Development of a Extremely Compact and Lightweight Sleeping Bag

The USMC has the need for improved military issue sleeping bag systems that reduce the weight to 7.22 lbs and pack volume to 1040 cubic inches. To achieve these significant improvements will require a bottom up redesign of the sleeping bag and evaluation of all components of the system. Finding a thinner, more efficient insulation will be one of the key material challenges to developing the advanced sleeping bag. Aspen Aerogels proposes to lead a team to develop an aerogel insulated sleeping bag with the desired weight and pack volume. The team will examine how best to integrate the aerogel by evaluating the overall design, materials, and assembly. The Phase I will focus on material selection, sub-element manufacture and test, and a final prototype manufacture. In Phase II we will build a detailed thermal model and manufacture and test the newly designed sleeping bag system.