An Improved Thermal Battery for Military Applications

摘要

A research and development program is being conducted at the SAFT Advanced Technologies Division in Hunt Valley, MD to double the specific energy of a thermal battery for military applications. A study of lithium based anodes has focused on immobilized liquid lithium. Selection of an iron disulfide cathode for the baseline battery design has resulted from studies of FeS_2 versus CoS_2 using design of experiment matrices.Titanium hardware for the design will provide a higher strength to weight ratio with lower emissivity than conventional stainless steel. A fluoride salt electrolyte and a high voltage transition metal fluoride cathode are being developed for the final battery design. The battery will consist of two voltage sections. The goals are activation in less than 0.2 s, 88 Wh/kg, 1,385 W/kg, and 179 Wh/L over an environmental temperature range of -40°C to +70°C.Test results of single cells with LAN/FeS_2 chemistry achieved 147 Wh/kg and 68% utilization of the iron disulfide electrode. Based on these results, batteries are projected to achieve 66 Wh/Kg.