Long Endurance Underwater Power System
Abstract
In cooperation with personnel from Alupower Inc., we have investigated various options to generate power using aluminum as fuel and gill technology to extract oxygen. The advantages and disadvantages of a few of the options were looked into and the energy densities were calculated. The power source scheme, ALWATT-CFFC, under development by Aquanautics can enhance the energy density of ALWATT, an aluminum-seawater battery, to 4000 Wh/l from approximately 2000 Wh/l. This is accomplished by oxidizing H2 generated from ALWATT in a fuel cell with dissolved oxygen from seawater transported by Aquanautics' proprietary carrier. In another scheme, the AL-Carrier battery, aluminum is oxidized directly in a battery with the oxygenated carrier. This system is simpler and the energy density could still be higher than the ALWATT- CFFC. But this system has not been developed to any extent. It is to be noted that all these energy density figures are calculated with major assumptions about performance of the systems. In the last quarter a considerable amount of work was carried out in a CFFC and efficiency has been improved to 28% from 18%. Stability of the performance will be checked in the next quarter. Some experiments on the AL-carrier showed feasibility although the long-term performance has not been established yet. The ALWATT battery which produces hydrogen has been optimized to yield an energy density of about 2000 Wh/l.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA213625