N093-190 TITLE: Opportunistic Energy Harvesting

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Ground/Sea Vehicles, Sensors, Electronics

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMS450: VIRGINIA Class submarine: ACAT I

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation.

OBJECTIVE: Investigate viability of harvesting power from the environment as a means to support wireless sensor systems.

DESCRIPTION: The Navy seeks technologies that will reduce the installation and maintenance cost of sensor systems. One concept is harvesting energy that is required to operate inboard and outboard sensors from electromagnetic energy in the environment. The energy harvested would be used to power the sensor and support wireless telemetry of the data from the sensor. Consideration must be given to the overall system approach and operational aspects of the systems. Ideally sensor systems would require no hull penetrations, power or signal wiring.

The guidelines for the energy harvesting system are:
-- Voltage: 2 to 5 Volts DC
-- Power: 0.1 to 1 Watt
-- Size: equivalent volume of 2 D cell batteries or smaller

PHASE I: Research opportunities to harvest power from the environment to power sensor systems in an effort to minimize or eliminate the need for dedicated wiring. Potential techniques include harvesting energy from electromagnetic fields present in the ship environment. The evaluated techniques should provide realistic energy levels (approx. 0.1 to 1 Watt) relative to the proposed sensor solution. Candidate concepts must address management of the harvested energy to optimize the power balance between the sensor system and the harvesting technique. Determine feasibility of an implementation using analysis and a laboratory demonstration. Consideration must be given to reliability and the operational environment and concept of operations for the proposed system.

PHASE II: Design and develop a scale prototype that can be tested in a representative environment. The prototype should include a complete concept that incorporates power harvesting and sensor operation. A demonstration of the prototype in a laboratory environment will be used to verify that key system performance specifications are met.

PHASE III: Design and develop a full scale prototype system that can be easily integrated and tested on a submarine platform as an early technical demonstration.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Innovations in the area are of universal appeal in industrial applications. There are many examples where local pressure, temperature, and exerted forces are extreme and power transmission is not viable. The ability to tap into these local environmental conditions to supply power enables applications that are not presently possible. Current commercially available energy harvesters produce power in milliWatts. A two orders-of-magnitude increase in output power would benefit many military/commercial applications. This includes submarines, surface ships, unmanned undersea vehicles, petroleum wells and the associated drilling and monitoring processes, undersea cable systems, and high pressure pipe line monitoring.

REFERENCES:
1. Wayne Manges, "The Future of Power Harvesting", http://www.sensorsmag.com/sensors/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=334636, Sensors Magazine, 13-JUN-2006

2. Mitcheson, P.D.; Green, T.C.; Yeatman, E.M.; Holmes, A.S., "Architectures for vibration-driven micropower generators," Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, Volume 13, Issue 3, June 2004 Page(s): 429 � 440.

3. Justin R. Farmer, "A comparison of power harvesting techniques and related energy storage issues," Masters Thesis, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, MAY-2007.

KEYWORDS: Power Harvesting, Submarine Systems, Hull Penetrator, Autonomous Powered Devices

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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