SBIR/STTR Award attributes
Improving battlefield situational awareness is critical to ensuring dominance in asymmetric warfare for dismounted soldiers. While new digital systems such as NETT Warrior and IVAS greatly improve the quality of information on the ground, their increasing power demands has led to the requirement of carrying multiple batteries into the fight which can amount to over 24 pounds per soldier for a 72-hour mission. Therefore, it is critical to identify more energy dense portable power generation alternatives. Since JP-8 is a logistic fuel that has nearly 80 times the energy density of current military lithium-ion batteries and is widely available on the battlefield, UPT plans to implement a lightweight JP-8 fueled Personal Expeditionary Generator (PEG) solution which will virtually eliminate battery loads. The less than 60 cubic inch, 2.5 pound design will be capable of providing over 50 Watts of continuous power with 50% lower emissions and 40% better efficiency than a 4-stroke without emitting smoke or odor. This is possible thanks to the mating of a power dense variable compression engine design operating in a lean, low temperature combustion regime and the application of UPT’s proven coating technology that provides lubrication free engine operation with JP-8. The PEG’s innovative flex fuel engine design will be mated to high efficiency, military proven power electronics and controls to provide over 2000-hour durability in a compact thermally and acoustically optimized package. Once implemented, PEG will reduce battery weight by over 60% and allow for future power intensive portable military systems.
