Hybridized Magnesium Air Fuel Cell With Ni-Zn Battery or Electrochemical Capacitor as the Ideal Energy Source for USV Sensor Payloads

In this SBIR program, a novel hybridized magnesium-air fuel cell and nickel-zinc battery is proposed as the ideal power source for USV sensor payloads. After extensive comparisons between batteries, metal-air fuel cells, and hydrogen fuel cells, it becomes clear that eVionyx's magnesium air fuel cell is the best choice in terms of specific energy, energy density, fuel loss rate, ease of refueling, system cost and overall safety. With the availability of seawater, we found that eVionyx's innovative Magnesium-Air Fuel cell can provide more than 4 times the energy content than the state-of-the-art hydrogen fuel cells. By hybridizing the Mg-Air system (ultra-high energy density) with our Ni-Zn battery (ultra-high power density) or optionally, an electrochemical capacitor, an ideal power source for the Naval USV mission is created that can provide 25 kW pulse power and a duration of more than 14 days. The overall objective for Phase I of this project is to demonstrate that a hybridized Mg-Air fuel cell and Ni-Zn battery (or electrochemical capacitor) is the best choice. In Phase II, a full-scale prototype system will be built and tested according to the USV power profile.