Aluminum fuel cell power sources for long range unmanned underwater vehicles

Author

Scamans, Geoffrey M. ; Creber, David K. ; Stannard, John H. ; Tregenza, James E.

Author_Institution

Alupower Inc., Warren, NJ, USA

fYear

1994

fDate

19-20 Jul 1994

Firstpage

179

Lastpage

186

Abstract

Two aluminum fuel cell power sources have been developed by Alupower for unmanned underwater vehicle propulsion based on solids management and solids free variants of the technology. The solids managed aluminum fuel cell power source will exceed the ARPA defined requirements in terms of energy and power density if liquid oxygen is used as the oxidant supply. For higher power density applications, the solids free aluminum fuel cell power source can provide 60 kWh at 3 kW from a 4-foot long section of a 21-inch diameter vehicle. Higher power density and energy density versions of both the solids managed and solids free aluminum fuel cell power source requires the development of open cycle systems. The life cycle costs of an aluminum fuel cell power source are lower than those of a silver-zinc battery averaged over 100 vehicle missions

Keywords

fuel cells; marine systems; power supplies to apparatus; 3 kW; Alupower; aluminum fuel cell; energy density; life cycle costs; liquid oxygen; open cycle systems; oxidant supply; power density; power sources; solids managed fuel cell; unmanned underwater vehicles; Aluminum; Costs; Energy management; Fuel cell vehicles; Fuel cells; Power system management; Propulsion; Solids; Technology management; Underwater vehicles;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Technology, 1994. AUV '94., Proceedings of the 1994 Symposium on

Conference_Location

Cambridge, MA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1808-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/AUV.1994.518623

Filename

518623