SBIR-STTR Award

This proposal addresses the Army's need for high-energy density, lightweight power sources for the dismounted warrior. The project proposes directly integrating a propane fuel reformer with the state of the art in solid acid fuel cell (SAFC) stacks to prove the feasibility of producing a 50 W person-portable, rugged, and efficient power supply utilizing propane fuel, capable of operating over 500 hours with a system energy density of 1000 Whr/kg.

Keywords:
solid acid electrolyte, fuel cell, propane, reformer, portable power

This project develops a person portable, propane-fed, solid acid electrolyte fuel cell (SAFC) generator as a lightweight power source for dismounted soldiers. The focus of the project will be the development and testing of a complete system including cell and stack scale-up and testing, and a SAFC specific water recovery subsystem. The SAFC system shall produce over 50W electrical power for 500 hours with a system energy density above 1000 Wh/Kg. This project develops a person portable, propane-fed, solid acid electrolyte fuel cell (SAFC) generator as a lightweight power source for dismounted soldiers. The focus of the project will be the development and testing of a complete system including cell and stack scale-up and testing, and a SAFC specific water recovery subsystem. The SAFC system shall produce over 50W electrical power for 500 hours with a system energy density above 1000 Wh/Kg. ---------- For the last five years, with the support of the US Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM),SAFCell and its system integration partner, UltraCell,have aggressively increase the technical readiness level (TRL) of solid acid fuel cell (SAFC) as a viable logistic fuel power source.Building on the progress that we made, this Army SBIR Phase II sequential project would successfully address the Army's need for high-energy density, lightweight power sources for the dismounted warrior; with focus on the logistic fuel JP8. At the termination of the project, we will deliver a JP8-fueled power unit ready for field evaluation.The unit would produce 50 Wnet in a person-portable, rugged, and efficient format with a system energy density of 1000 Whr/kg. Our confidence for success is based on our progress to date in demonstrating a fully packaged, propane fueled lab prototype developed by UltraCell, which is composed of a compact propane reformer in combination with state-of-the-art SAFC stacks provided by SAFCell. Furthermore, InnovaTek has already demonstrated a compact JP-8 reformer at the 300W scale and working with SAFCell, confirmed SAFC stack functionality and performance on JP8 reformate.