SBIR-STTR Award

Thermal batteries are a power source for most MDA weapons systems. Some of these systems have severe constraints on weight and size, and for this reason, advanced thermal batteries are needed that can provide greater power in smaller and lighter packages. The key components of conventional thermal battery cells are made by hydraulically pressing powders. Such components must be greater than a minimum thickness to keep the pressed powder pellets from breaking. For batteries that must supply high current for a relatively short period of time, this consideration can greatly increase the mass and length of the battery. We propose to address this problem by combining two recent advances in thermal battery technology. We will utilize a thin film component technology to construct thinner components with lower impedance than is possible with pressed powders. We will employ Erigo’s advanced thermal battery simulation software to extract the maximum benefit from the thin film process. By combining both technologies, we will create a well-defined procedure for building thermal batteries with greatly reduced mass and volume.

Keywords:
Thermal Batteries, Thin Films, Virtual Prototyping

Thermal batteries are a power source for most MDA weapons systems. Some of these applications place severe constraints on battery weight and size. The key components of thermal batteries are typically made by hydraulically pressing powders into “pellets”. The pellets must be greater than a minimum thickness to avoid breakage, and for batteries that must supply high current for a short time this consideration greatly increases size and weight. In Phase I, we addressed this problem by combining two recent advances in thermal battery technology. We utilized a thin film component process developed by our collaborators at EaglePicher Technologies to construct thinner components with lower impedance than is possible with pressed powders. We employed Erigo’s advanced thermal battery simulation software to extract the maximum benefits from this new process and to diagnose and solve problems encountered during testing of battery prototypes. In Phase II, we will use a model-based development process to construct and test a high performance thin film battery for a specific MDA application. We expect this will reduce the battery weight by over 50 percent. We will also demonstrate the use of this technology to construct complete thermal batteries with a prismatic cross-section.

Keywords:
thermal batteries, thin films, virtual prototyping