Novel Miniature Inertial Igniters for Thermal Batteries

The primary objective of this project is to develop a number of classes of novel miniature inertial igniters for thermal batteries that are suitable for gun-fired munitions and mortars. As part of the Phase I efforts, systematic methods have been developed for determining the performance of miniature inertial igniter concepts to all no-fire acceleration profiles, including those due to accidental drops, transportation and handling, as well as acceleration profiles defined for achieving ignition. Issues related to the integration of the developed novel miniature inertial igniters into thermal battery housing as well as high G hardening are fully addressed. The developed novel miniature igniter concepts are very simple in design and manufacture, occupy very small volume, and are purely mechanical and contain no damping elements to ensure consistent operation and very long shelf life of over 20 years. Extensive dynamics modeling and model validation tests have provided the means to optimally design inertial igniters for almost any gun-fired munitions environment, while achieving designs that are significantly smaller than all those that are currently available. The proposed miniature inertia based igniters for thermal batteries should satisfy the need for the development of low cost, safe, very small and low power thermal batteries, particularly for fuzing applications.