Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cells for Undersea Refuelable Unmanned Undersea Vehicles
Abstract
The Navy is developing Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUVs) to perform critical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and, other missions. Fuel cell-powered UUV propulsion systems can provide longer runtimes compared to battery-powered systems, and opera,tional endurance is a key priority to improve mission capabilities. The ability to recharge a fuel cell-powered UUV at an under sea, docking station provides substantial benefits compared to reloading the UUV onto a ship for recharging. Using a separate electrolyz,er system to refuel the UUV undersea is not practical/viable due to the challenges of making highly reliable sealed connections for, refueling the reactant pressurized gases (hydrogen and oxygen) underwater. Approaches that allow underwater recharging of fuel cell,-powered UUVs are needed. The proposed project will develop components and an initial system design for a Unitized Regenerative Fuel, Cell (URFC) energy section to enable undersea rechargeable UUVs. The project objectives are to (i) develop amphiphilic porous trans,port layers with hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions to improve performance in fuel cell and electrolyzer modes, (ii) develop suppor,ted bifunctional catalysts that provide improved stability, (iii) develop and test a small URFC stack, (iv) evaluate approaches for, efficient mode switching process and changes over repeated mode switching, and (v) develop a design for a UUV URFC energy system. -,-The design and components of the energy system will be aimed to meet rapid recharge times and meet the power requirements of simula,ted UUV power profiles. The project will address critical material, component, cell, and system challenges to enable a URFC UUV ener,gy system that provides underwater refueling and similar performance and stability as separate fuel cells and electrolyzers. The pr,oject will significantly benefit the Navy by providing URFC energy systems that can refuel autonomous/self-sustaining long endurance, UUVs from underwater forward deployed recharging/refueling docking stations. The project furthers Navy priorities of Integrated an,d Distributed Forces and Operational Endurance through enabling autonomous, unmanned systems that improve battlespace awareness, and, command and control. Texas State University is a Minority Institution (MI), and this effort will increase participation of underrep,resented minorities in research relevant to the Navy. Approved for public release
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2022
- Source ID
- N000142212144
Entities
People
- Christopher P Rhodes
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- Texas State University
- United States Navy