SBIR-STTR Award

The proposed innovation is a Hybrid Airborne Laser Power System [HALPS] that uses a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell to charge a bank of batteries designed to power a megawatt class High Energy Laser [HEL]. The Infinity Fuel Cell Stack is based on Infinity’s advanced Air Independent, Non Flow Through (NFT) fuel cell technology, in development for NASA and the US Navy, modified to meet the needs of an HEL-battery architecture. The capability to generate megawatts of air platform prime power for each shot and repeat shots as required is inherent in the HALPS system design when used to recharge high power batteries to drive a pulsed power weapons system.

Benefits:
The continuation of Infinity’s development of this technology will benefit applications requiring longer duration missions requiring higher energy density power sources. Commercially, these are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles [UAV’s] and Unmanned Underwater Vehicles [UAV’s]. The commercial space and the High Altitude Long Endurance [HALE] aircraft space are also candidates for the technology.

Keywords:
Air Independent, Fuel Cell, High Energy Laser, pulsed power weapons system, air platform prime power, megawatts, Proton Exchange Membrane, Non Flow Through.

Successful introduction of DEW will depend on total mission integration of power, energy and thermal systems. Because of the pulse-power nature of the current requirement, battery based systems have been predominant in current deployment and testing. Ho