Lightweight Scaled-Up Linearly-Oscillating Miniature Engine for Portable Electric Power

"Microscale power technologies have the potential to fill an emerging military need for portablepower generation at the 500 W level for the Objective Force dismounted soldier. This requires,however, scale-up of these technologies to the 500 W level and the ability of the technologies touse logistics fuels. Aerodyne Research, Inc. has developed a linearly-oscillating miniatureinternal combustion engine (MICE) technology to provide electric power at the 10 W scale at veryhigh energy densities. ARI proposes to scale up its MICE technology to generate power in a 500 Wsystem. This linearly-oscillating engine-generator will use logistics fuels and have low noiseand very high energy densities. The Phase I program will perform a detailed characterization ofthe performance and cost as the power output is scaled from 10 W to 500 W, investigate criticaldesign issues including acoustic suppression and fuel metering, and perform a detailed design ofthe basic linearly-oscillating internal combustion engine-generator and a conceptual design ofthe full power system. A lightweight, compact electric generator at the 500 W scale has wide ranging commercialapplications. This generator can provide portable power at construction sites, forrecreational uses at campsites, picnic grounds, and on boats and larger marine vehicles."