SBIR-STTR Award

The Navy has a current need for portable power sources providing power outputs from 20 to 250 W for long durations of time in small lightweight packages. Hydrogen air fuel cells are one of the most promising solutions to address this need. One significant issue surrounding the use of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells is the storage of hydrogen. Metallic hydrides and even chemical hydrides, such as NaBH4, have low hydrogen storage capacity, below 4% by weight or 20 g/H2/L. Jadoo Power Systems and Technology Assement & Tranfer propose to develop a novel hydrogen fuel cartridge that will utilize borazane as a hydrogen storage medium, achieving storage densities of greater than 10% or 50 g/H2/L. Once interfaced with Jadoo's fuel cell, a typical power system will be able to meet the needs of a 2 week mission (1680 Whrs) with a weight of only 2.56 kg, while an equivalent system of BA5590 batteries would weigh 10.2 kg. The resulting system will be directly applicable to both military applications and to Jadoo's existing commercial products.

Keywords:
FUEL CELLS, HYDROGEN, BORAZANE, PORTABLE POWER, HYDROGEN STORAGE, PEM FUEL CELLS, HYDRIDE

Jadoo Power proposes an ammonia borane based hydrogen generation system exceeding 1000 Whrs/kg. While suitable for a wide range of portable power applications, the developed cartridges will initially be targeted at unmanned vehicles in the 65 to 150 W power range. More specifically, 25 cartridges will be designed, fabricated, and delivered for customer evaluation on an unmanned ground vehicle manufactured by Kuchera Defense Systems. Ammonia borane based hydrogen generation facilitates the use of low temperature PEM fuel cell architectures without the need for water loops. This approach has repeatedly shown its applicability to a wide range of commercial and military applications. The low-temperature / no-water-loop PEM architecture enables high reliability (>7000 hours), low cost (100W system under $1000), instant startup (less than 2 seconds), start/stop resilience (>7000 start/stops), and a wide environmental temperature (-20 to 55°C). The cartridge development tasks will be focused on scaling the present architecture, design optimization for higher power portable applications, environmental qualification, and deliverable unit fabrication.

Keywords:
Fuel Cell, Hydrogen, Ammonia, Methanol, Power, Unmanned, Uav, Ugv