SBIR/STTR Award attributes
Initially developed at MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology, Mesodyne’s ultra-high energy density, efficient, silent, reliable Light-Cell power generators increase energy sustainment 10X over batteries alone. The Light-Cell converts fuel to electricity via light with no moving parts, achieving energy densities of 1000-2000 Wh/kg. Mesodyne’s Light-Cell generator is significantly more efficient than traditional thermophotovoltaics because the light emitted by the nanophotonic material nearly perfectly matches what the PV cell can convert into electricity. Mesodyne’s founders demonstrated the world record efficiency for this type of energy conversion in 2017 during their PhDs at MIT. Simply put, Mesodyne enables the rapid deployment of power for a variety of scale and scope infrastructure with a 75% weight reduction over Li-Ion batteries for long endurance missions. Our technology can be applied to numerous current and future use cases. The primary goal of the Phase I feasibility study is to determine whether Mesodyne’s unique Light-cell power generator has the potential to provide value in USAF expeditionary missions and what the requirements for such a generator would be. We will identify a specific defense end user with an immediate pain point. ???????We will use generator modeling codes to quantify the increase in capability for specific structures and power needs on specific missions of a proposed larger power system using customer’s metrics. We will determine which value propositions are important by understanding what end user problem we are solving, specifically understanding their CONOPS and what their overall objectives are.
