SBIR-STTR Award

Spear Power Systems will leverage their strong experience developing advanced lithium-ion battery systems and robust battery management systems for defense and industrial programs to research and evaluate viable lithium-ion cell technologies and emerging power-dense semiconductor switch technologies to support an innovative dual-voltage lithium-ion 6T concept design. During Phase I, Spear will make modifications to their proven Scalable Battery Management System (SBMS) to safely and efficiently support dual-voltage outputs, conduct trade studies to determine cost-optimized approach, and generate electrical and thermal models that demonstrate projected performance. During the Phase I Option, Spear will procure materials to test power switching circuitry designed in Phase I to validate their proof of concept system design. Results of this testing will be used to determine the recommended path toward a complete Phase II prototype build with system-level testing showcasing 24V and 48V performance and demonstration as a 300V hybrid mobility system. The benefits of Spears unique and innovative approach to this topic include flexible scalability for support of high voltage battery systems, establishing a fixed set of materials to improve manufacturability and reduce costs, and standardization of battery configurations designed to enhance operations and reduce costs through common inventory.

The development of a modular, scalable battery system designed to support the Army’s 6T program will substantially reduce life cycle costs to the Army and DoD at large. Spear’s VoltFlex permits 6T lithium ion batteries to operate in either 24V or 48V modes. Spear’s novel switching mechanism identified in Phase I, will be further refined in Phase II and used in conjunction with the 24V and 48V batteries developed under this effort to demonstrate a 300V battery system comprised of 6 x 46V 6T batteries. Spear’s VoltFlex, when combined with Spear’s Scalable Battery Management System (SBMS), enables 24V or 48V mode 6T batteries to be combined into hybrid mobility packs of up to 600VDC. Spear will deliver six 6T batteries and associated SBMS hardware/software to demonstrate 300V operation. Spear will provide electrical drawings, technical specifications, software, modeling and simulation, and test results showing operation, performance, and capacity in 24V, 48V (2 parallel 48V and 2 series 24V 6Ts), and 300V (6 series 48V 6Ts) configurations. Spear will perform a cost analysis demonstrating the dual voltage capability will have no more than a 20% impact relative to a 24V only 6T lithium ion battery.