CFDRC’s Bio-Battery Program was recently selected as a National Achievement Award winner by the Army SBIR Program. This prestigious award was given to the top 10 programs out of 755 (top 2%). The award will be presented during an awards ceremony at the Pentagon. Following on this national success, CFDRC was featured in the local press via an article in the Huntsville Times.
The Bio-Battery team is developing a device which harvests energy from biological fuels such as sugars and converts them directly into electrical energy. This product is adaptable for many low power applications in both the military and commercial markets. CFDRC’s Bio-Battery offers several advantages over conventional fuel cells and Li-ion batteries, these include; reduced size and weight, flexible shape, environmental-friendliness, and improved renewability and reliability.
The first target application is as a mission-extender for portable soldier power. The Bio-Battery will meet a long-standing, critical need for the soldiers. Namely reducing the number (and total) weight of batteries required during extended (up to 72-hr) missions. To this end CFDRC has recently begun a Phase III program with CERDEC (Communication-Electronic Research, Development and Engineering Center) targeting insertion in the portable soldier power arena.
Potential future markets include portable low-power electronics devices (iPod, cell phone, etc) and implantable power sources to power medical devices (pacemakers, etc).
A detailed overview of CFDRC’s Bio-Battery Program is provided here.
