30-WATT LITHIUM HYDRIDE FUEL CELL.
Abstract
The US Army Electronics Command is developing a lithium hydride fuel cell that will silently recharge a storage battery used to power forward-area tactical communication and surveillance equipment. The system is called the fuel cell--battery hybrid. The fuel cell, which is connected in parallel to the battery, converts chemical energy formed by a lithium hydride tablet and water in a Kipp-type hydrogen generator to electric energy. This symbiotic relationship allows the battery to be small enough for a man to carry in a pack. The power output of the combination is 30 watts, with a nominal voltage of 14 and 28 volts for 240 ampere-hours per charge of fuel. A 0.45-ampere-hour storage battery is thus able to supply the peak-power pulses of some transmitters without an unduly rapid drain of power. The battery life in this combination is approximately 420 cycles, a cycle considered to be 2 minutes transmitting and 18 minutes receiving time for a given radio in the PRC-VRC series. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1968
- Accession Number
- AD0840361