Enabling Future Energy Concepts Through Microsystem Technologies
Abstract
(U) The DoD mission demands continuous pursuit of the most advanced portable, reliable and dense energy systems. A large number of critical systems are limited in performance and/or mission duration by the amount of electrical energy available at the point-of-use. This program seeks to create breakthrough advances in power storage, management and delivery, all enabled via the application of microsystems technologies. A core component of this effort will be the development of new architectures, reversible electrode structures, materials, and chemistries for the development of rechargeable, high energy density batteries that match or exceed energy density of hydrocarbon fuels (e.g. gasoline, JP8, etc.), requiring the energy density to increase over ten-fold compared to current lithium ion batteries. An equally important aspect of this program is the development of novel electromagnetic switching power converters to optimize the efficiency of energy use at the micro scale. In order to achieve this, both materials and circuits are necessary. Advanced micromagnetic materials and fabrication techniques will be developed to achieve greatly improved performance (i.e., > 100x higher magnetic permeability, > 20x higher magnetic-energy product, 140% higher magnetic saturation) in a reliable microsystem-compatible manner. With the resulting tiny inductors that can be directly merged with integrated circuits, it will be possible not only to allow every battery to optimize its own performance, but to allow integrated circuits to locally regulate their own energy supplies. This profound change away from centralized power systems will yield dramatic size, weight and efficiency improvements across scales from individual integrated circuits through entire phased-array radar and other large electronic systems. All of this translates into lower energy requirements, smaller logistics tails, reduced heat dissipation, and increased system reliability.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2011
- Source ID
- fff2f8359fa8ed946cb6751b9ca1b1c1
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- Root: ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY