SBIR-STTR Award

Advances in Thermal Battery Anodes
Award last edited on: 3/26/2012

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
DOD : MDA
Total Award Amount
$815,926
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
MDA08-022
Principal Investigator
Annmarie Ronacher

Company Information

ENSER Corporation (AKA: EnerSys~ENSER~The ENSER Corporation)

5430-B 70th Avenue North
Pinellas Park, FL 33781
   (727) 520-1393
   info@ensercorp.com
   www.ensercorp.com
Location: Single
Congr. District: 13
County: Pinellas

Phase I

Contract Number: ----------
Start Date: ----    Completed: ----
Phase I year
2009
Phase I Amount
$99,902
Thermal batteries are mission critical components which provide power to military weapon systems for electronics, fusing, sensing and actuation. Current and future thermal battery packaging and performance requirements are being pushed to the limits, demanding higher power levels over longer operating times (hence, higher usable energy output) in smaller, lighter packages. These increases are required for

Keywords:
Thermal Batteries, Improved Anode, Energy Density, Power Density

Phase II

Contract Number: ----------
Start Date: ----    Completed: ----
Phase II year
2011
Phase II Amount
$716,024
Thermal batteries are employed in virtually every strategic defense and tactical weapon system. As systems capabilities continue to increase, future thermal batteries will be required to deliver higher power and energy in packages smaller and lighter than those available with baseline lithium-silicon (LiSi) / FeS2 technology. Although ENSER’s proprietary LiSi / cobalt disulfide (CoS2) system provides a 50 – 80% increase in specific energy and is now employed in numerous next-generation systems, during the Phase I effort several new anode materials were identified which, combined with improved cathode materials under development as part of a separate R&D effort, offer the potential to substantially increase specific energy over the state-of-the-art LiSi / CoS2 system. Three candidate anode materials identified in Phase I, include: (1) a new binary LiX system, (2) LiSi alloy containing up to 50% lithium and (3) a novel ternary lithium system. Single-cell testing validated improved specific energy and specific capacity performance, and one new anode / new cathode combination validated that a 50% increase in specific energy over state-of-the-art LiSi / CoS2 was achievable. Phase II efforts will focus on selecting and optimizing the most viable anode candidates and validating improved performance in full-scale thermal batteries.

Keywords:
Thermal Batteries, Improved Anode, Energy Density, Power Density