Award Data

Providing power for dismounted soldiers on long-duration missions remains a critical technical challenge. Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells convert hydrogen fuel directly to electric power and offer a lightweight and efficient power source for individual soldiers. However, technology for storing the hydrogen fuel is still too heavy to meet the Army’s mission requirements. We propo ...

Gas turbine engines rely on internal controllers to achieve efficient operation over a wide range of operating conditions. These Full Authority Digital Engine Controls (FADEC) are located within the engines in an environment characterized by high temperature and high vibration. Cooling the electronic components inside the FADEC is a tremendous challenge. We propose to apply innovative thermal m ...

Protective garments that isolate a dismounted soldier from the environment can also build up excessive internal heat and humidity, impairing performance and possibly leading to heat casualties. We propose to develop an innovative microclimate control system that will maintain a cool, dry environment inside protective garments. There are two key innovations: (1) a novel cooling process that enables ...

Lithium batteries have excellent capacity, although they require careful management to avoid catastrophic damage. As a result, there is extreme interest in developing a Battery Management System (BMS) to take advantage of the positive attributes of lithium chemistries. Most of the lithium battery manufacturers have developed various forms of BMSs, each with individual strengths and weaknesses. The ...

The dynamics during the early stages of detonation of energetic materials determine the development path of the explosion. These dynamics are extremely difficult to measure, however, since the entire event may last of order a microsecond and the temperature and pressure conditions are characteristic of extreme shock. Fast, high-resolution diagnostic tools are needed to characterize these early sta ...

Analysis of chemical samples in the field and in confined areas has many advantages over laboratory analysis. Laboratory analyses can be slow, involve increased expense, lead to additional waste generation and disposal problems, and may introduce errors due to sample degradation or mishandling. In situ analysis mitigates all of these problems. The specific aim of this project is the development of ...

Air cycle machines (ACM) are critical components that provide refrigeration in military and commercial aircraft. These systems extract bleed air from the aircraft’s engines or an auxiliary power unit, and refrigerate it for cooling the environment or electronics. Currently, ACMs utilize hydrodynamic foil-bearings to support the expansion turbine at high operating speeds. These bearings have exhi ...

The Marines and other military branches are seeking to develop more efficient, more reliable, and safer logistics fuel (JP-8) burners needed for field kitchen cooking appliances. Existing appliances that operate on logistics fuel have a number of significant shortcomings. In some cases, existing burners involve open flames which are inherently inefficient and vent both heat and potentially hazardo ...

Nickel Cadmium (NiCD) batteries have long been one of the best rechargeable battery chemistries due to high reliability and excellent energy density, especially for low voltage commercial products requiring a small number of series connected cells. For larger packs that require higher voltages and more series connected cells, and which must tolerate harsh conditions such as wide operating temperat ...

A critical need for renewable energy systems is a cost-effective energy storage system that would enable the systems to provide power reliably and continuously when renewable energy resources are not available. We propose to develop such a cost-effective, compact, and environmentally friendly energy storage system. The proposed system employs a reversible chemical reaction to achieve very high pow ...