N142-092 TITLE: High Power Battery for Long-Range Air-to-Surface Missile

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Weapons

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMA 201

RESTRICTION ON PERFORMANCE BY FOREIGN NATIONALS: This topic is "ITAR Restricted". The information and materials provided pursuant to or resulting from this topic are restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which control the export of defense-related material and services, including the export of sensitive technical data. Foreign nationals may perform work under an award resulting from this topic only if they hold the "Permanent Resident Card", or are designated as "Protected Individuals" as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3). If a proposal for this topic contains participation by a foreign national who is not in one of the above two categories, the proposal may be rejected.

OBJECTIVE: Develop a high-voltage reserve battery with increased pulse power densities compared to existing batteries used in air-launched weapon applications.

DESCRIPTION: Greater ranges, longer flight times, and higher electrical needs from onboard components place increasing demands on batteries used in tactical missiles. However, the space and weight available to accommodate batteries is very limited. The technologies currently in use cannot supply the electrical capacity to meet projected weapon needs. The heat generated by many current thermal batteries also impacts other subsystems and creates safety concerns. These issues may be addressed by recent advances in a variety of battery technologies--including thermal, chemical reserve, and lithium--that have potential to offer significantly increased power densities and improved safety at lower costs than currently deployed battery systems.

The purpose of this topic is to develop and demonstrate improved battery technology compatible with the requirements of air-launched weapons. Such batteries must perform in severe captive carriage and free flight environments following an extensive period of storage. Performance and environmental requirements for the application include:

- Shelf life of 20+ years under extreme climate storage conditions from -40 to +72 degrees Celsius.

- Ability to operate in climate extremes from -54 to +72 degrees Celsius. Up to 10 minutes of power can be made available to heat the battery before launch (weapon station power available for heating a reserve battery is 250 Watts maximum). The battery shall be active after a rise time of no more than 1 second.

- Ability to provide both 28 Volts Direct Current (Vdc) and 56 Vdc output for no less than 800 seconds under a prescribed load profile. The 28 Vdc tap shall support a peak current of 20 amperes (amps). The 56 Vdc tap shall support a peak current of 40 amps. Both voltage taps shall supply a 1.9 amp-hour capacity.

- Goal of providing an overall power density of 200 Watts-second/gram for the complete assembled battery.

- Ability to operate after exposure to a captive carry random vibration environment from 20-2000 Hertz (Hz), 11.3 g’s RMS with spikes of 0.2 g2/Hz @ 250 Hz and 0.027 g2/Hz @ 611 Hz.

- Threshold requirement is a battery envelope not to exceed 8 inches by 8 inches by 6 inches. Objective requirement is a battery envelope not to exceed 8 inches long x 4.5 inches diameter. Weight shall not exceed 13 pounds.

- Battery shall not vent or become distorted under storage or operational environments, and the case temperature must not exceed 720 degrees Fahrenheit under any load condition.

- A price goal is $2,000-$3,000 per unit for a production quantity of 400-700 per year.

PHASE I: Identify, design, and develop a concept meeting the specified requirements. These solutions shall be demonstrated as lab experiments or as single cell testing.

PHASE II: Design, fabricate, and test prototype battery assemblies meeting the generalized performance requirements and dimensional limits. These prototype batteries should produce the same voltage levels as defined in the requirements, i.e. both a 28 VDC section and a 56 VDC section. A minimum of 40 prototypes (100 batteries is the preferred goal) shall be constructed and subjected to preliminary environmental and safety testing to demonstrate that the reliability and producibility challenges have been overcome.

PHASE III: Finalize the design and fabricate and test a sample quantity of batteries meeting the performance requirements, envelope, and weight of an actual missile application. These batteries will be subjected to a full suite of non-operational and operational environmental testing plus U.S. Navy Safety Testing required for transition to a program of record.

The contractor shall identify staffing, facilities, and any other infrastructure required to support quantity production of this style of battery technology when transitioned to a program of record.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Though Navy requirements for long-term storage and operational environments are generally much more severe than commercial applications, high voltage batteries are increasingly important to the portable electronics industry. This research may also apply to the safety concerns caused by thermal runaway in commercial battery applications. High voltage batteries are required in a number of other DOD applications including ejection seats and robotics.

REFERENCES:
1. Best Manufacturing Practices Center of Excellence (September 1991), NAVSO P-3676: Navy Primary and Secondary Batteries, Retrieved from http://www.bmpcoe.org/library/books/navso%20p-3676/23.html.

2. Naval Sea Systems Command, (2004), Technical Manual for Batteries, Navy Lithium Safety Program Responsibilities and Procedures (TM-S9310-AQ-SAF-010), Retrieved from http://www.public.navy.mil/navsafecen/Documents/afloat/Surface/CS/LithBattSafe.pdf.

3. Dow, J. and Batchelor, C., 2010, Navy Lithium Battery Safety (Department of Defense Explosive Safety Board 34th Seminar), Indian Head, MD: Naval Ordinance Safety and Security Activity, Retrieved from http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ada532003.

KEYWORDS: Thermal Battery; Cathode; Anode; Reserve Battery; Missile Power; Lithium

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

DoD Notice:   Between April 23 through May 22 you may talk directly with the Topic Authors (TPOC) to ask technical questions about the topics. Their contact information is listed above. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting May 23, 2014, when DoD begins accepting proposals for this solicitation.

However, proposers may still submit written questions about solicitation topics through the DoD's SBIR/STTR Interactive Topic Information System (SITIS), in which the questioner and respondent remain anonymous and all questions and answers are posted electronically for general viewing until the solicitation closes. All proposers are advised to monitor SITIS (14.2 Q&A) during the solicitation period for questions and answers, and other significant information, relevant to the SBIR 14.2 topic under which they are proposing.

If you have general questions about DoD SBIR program, please contact the DoD SBIR Help Desk at (866) 724-7457 or webmail link.