Power Source Materials & Subcomponents Manufacturing Improvements

Manufacturers of military batteries often need raw materials that may have long lead times, limited production and/or high costs. During Phase I of this project, Advanced Membrane Systems (AMS) made some modifications and improvements to one of its products (a lithium ion battery separator), and made it suitable for Li/SO2 cell applications. Phase II of this proposal is for qualification of battery separators for the military BA-5590 batteries. Phase II of this SBIR has been broken into 5 tasks (duration, 24 months and estimated costs of approximately $600K). Task 1 is dedicated to adding the necessary tooling to AMS’ pilot lab. Task 2 is to run trials for in-house evaluation. Task 3 is for bench level testing and data analysis. Task 4 is to make separator samples for cell testing. Task 5 is to build qualification cells, to do cell testing, review and analyze the cell test results, and prepare for Phase III and commercialization. During Phase II, AMS will continue Phase I work and deliver more than 30,000 linear feet of battery separator samples to a selected DoD battery contractor. BA-5590 cell testing and full qualification will take 4-6 months, costs approximately $76K and will be part of this Phase II SBIR. In addition to Li/SO2 cells, AMS is also working with other DoD battery subcontractors and will be delivering separator samples for testing/qualification in both primary and secondary lithium ion cell applications. After Phase II is successfully completed, this project will move on to Phase III.