Lithium Batteries for Strategic Missile Flight Testing

The propulsion directorate of the Air Force has recognized the need for a safe, dependable, and relatively inexpensive lithium battery for strategic missile flight testing. The Phase I SBIR project addresses to investigate the feasibility of defining the design and dimension of such lithium batteries A novel electrochemical couple is proposed for the development of a high specific energy lithium-ion battery system for strategic flight testing applications. The proposed low cost anode, which delivers 50% higher practical capacity than the state-of-the-art carbon anodes, will be used to address the safety issues. In Phase I, several lithium-ion cells of capacity 2 Ah and 4 Ah, which are required for two types of flight testing, will be designed and developed and their performance will be evaluated to demonstrate the proof-of-concept. In Phase II, prototype batteries will be produced.