ARTICLE

February 2004

Military Fuel-Cell Programs Not Yet Ready for Prime Time

by Geoff S. Fein

While the commercial industry is taking significant steps forward in the adoption of fuel cell technology, military researchers are taking a wait-and-see approach, expressing concern that fuel cells so far have not proven they can work in combat environments.

Commercial manufacturers, meanwhile, are hoping that breakthroughs in the civilian sector can spur military investments in the technology. “Our biggest issue is getting the military off their dime. There is a lot of inertia to overcome,” said Dale Church, chairman of MTI Micro, a fuel cell manufacturer. “We keep telling the military, if it doesn’t get onboard [it] will miss the wagon.”

Others believe that finding the money to invest in fuel cell research and programs is the biggest obstacle for the military to overcome. According to Atakan Ozbek, director of research for ABI in Oyster Bay, N.Y., even though the Department of Defense has agencies, such as the Army’s Research, Development and Engineering Command and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, looking into fuel cells, the Pentagon doesn’t want to take the lead and bear all the expense of the research and development.

The Defense Department will “wait to see the commercial uses and for prices to drop,” said Ozbek. “It will be a slow process.” In the long run, the Pentagon views fuel cells as a problem-solving technology that will help troops alleviate the burden of carrying heavy loads of batteries to the front lines.

The challenges facing the commercial market are similar to what the military is trying to solve — whether to use pure hydrogen for fuel or one that must be reformed to remove sulfur; how to dispose of fuel cell cartridges; overcoming the high per kilowatt cost of fuel cells; the ability to miniaturize fuel cells and improving reliability and efficiency.

“If fuel cells are going to replace batteries, you have to overcome all those issues,” said Ozbek. “For example, [the ability] to take fuel onto an airplane. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has to come up with regulations and standards…they have to look at the packaging. The regulatory scene is a significant issue.”

MTI has several fuel cell programs underway including one to replace the BA 5590—the standard military battery—with a fuel cell in Harris’ hand-held tactical radios. Church said production on the system is about a year away. “We are literally working on production units now.”

MTI’s fuel cell prototype for Harris radios will closely resemble the battery it is to replace, both in shape and weight, said John Cerveny, director of government systems for MTI.

The BA 5590 weighs close to three pounds, and because it is not rechargeable, soldiers have to carry several of them. MTI’s fuel cell refill weighs about 1.5 pounds.

“It’s a real bargain for guys on a reconnaissance mission who need an unbelievable number of batteries,” said Cerveny.

Harris is looking at either replacing the BA 5590 battery or using a recharger, for its radio, according to Bob Post, engineering manager responsible for fuel cell development. The goal is to develop a lightweight power system, he said.

“We realize with direct methanol, we can get the weight down to half [of what soldiers] were carrying with batteries,” said Post. Work still needs to be done, including improving fuel cell reliability and performance in rugged environments, before Harris’ radios are fielded, said Post. It will take about three years to improve the reliability, he said.

MTI also is working with Intermec, a manufacturer of supply chain information products, services and systems, to provide fuel cells to operate the company’s Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices.

The first units will go into the handle of Intermec’s RFID reader, said Church. “Currently, they change the batteries two to three times a shift, so you can see the savings,” he said.

In September 2003, MTI and the Gillette Co. (parent company of Duracell) teamed up to distribute low-power fuel cells. Church said that, although Duracell passed up on developing Lithium Ion (rechargeable) batteries, the company couldn’t pass up on fuel cells.

A Gillette spokesman said the company views “fuel cells as a long-term potential opportunity,” but there is no timetable for entry into the commercial market.

Fuel cells for cellular phones are many years away, said Church. That’s because a cell phone would require a very small fuel cell to operate. Larger systems for cars are at least six to 10 years away, he added.

The widespread availability of electric outlets for recharging batteries could slow consumer interest in fuel cells, Cerveny said.

On the flip side, the difficulty with recharging batteries on the battlefield is one of the main reasons the military is pursuing alternative power sources, said Cerveny.

Military agencies, for their part, defend the slower pace of their research and development work in fuel cells, citing the rigorous testing and evaluation that battlefield systems require.

“Any technology, anything you work on, must be relevant and ready to field,” said Michael Quah, a member of the Army Communications-Electronics, Research Development and Engineering Command (CERDEC) fuel cell technology team.

“We are not technology advocates. We have to look at it from the field requirement. It is important to understand the mission,” he said. “We are an Army in transition. We have to be open to different power sources.”

CERDEC is one of the many teams looking at fuel cells to provide power for a whole host of items, from tactical radios, to the Navy’s future destroyer, the DDX.

Quah, who came to CERDEC from the private sector, scoffs at the notion that the military is dragging its feet when it comes to fuel cells.

“The military is not sluggish. We are working the technologies,” he said. “Fuel cells are just [one] weapon in the whole arsenal of power weapons.”

Quah noted that manufacturers have to be aggressive in their pursuit and marketing of fuel cells. But in order for the military to sooner adopt the technology, industry and the services need to work together, he added.

“Active participation and collaboration will move things quicker,” said Quah.

Some on the industry side believe that fuel cells could one day replace batteries. Quah predicts the military will eventually use a hybrid technology, incorporating the best of both fuel cells and batteries. The Army and Marine Corps will most likely be the first to adopt it, he added.

Because fuel cells require air to operate, underwater use is a daunting challenge. But a hybrid could allow the fuel cell to shut off its air intake and operate solely on batteries, said Quah. “You always have to think of the mission.”

Another issue is what happens when a fuel cell is exposed to battlefield contaminants, such as dust or gases. How to protect fuel cells from toxic agents is a difficult problem, Quah said.

Extreme weather conditions are another obstacle. “We can heat the fuel. The issue is to work the problem,” he said. “It’s tough, yes, but we will do it. We will not field a half-baked solution.”

Quah takes a holistic view of fuel cells. He sees the technology as one piece of a much larger power puzzle.

“A lot of money is spent on the cell, but there is also the fuel [component],” he said. “It’s a combination of a system of systems.”

Because of the lack of system integration, fuel cells are “not ready for prime time,” said Quah.

For example, pure hydrogen, necessary to run a fuel cell, is not a logistics fuel. Having to add more fuel tanks to transport hydrogen just increases the load a soldier has to carry, said Quah.

According to Army studies, hydrogen fuel cells are not lighter than a battery, he said. “You need to look at the whole system. Whatever a soldier carries must be counted.”

Although it is possible to use diesel or military fuel instead of pure hydrogen, converting the other fuels requires a reformer—primarily to remove sulfur. Although some companies and universities are looking at micro reformers, currently most systems are too big to strap on the backs of soldiers.

DARPA is close to completing the development of a palm-sized reformer that will run on JP-8 military fuel. The system is ready for integration, said Valerie Browning, palm power program manager. But it will need to be modified to meet the requirements of specific systems. It will need to burn fuel for part of its operation. The last step required developing micro combusters to burn the fuel, she added.

“To shrink the technology has been hard,” said Browning. “From fuel delivery to components, everything has required custom pieces. It’s not a trivial exercise.”

One area where fuel cells may eventually be incorporated is for the Future Combat Systems, the Army’s next-generation vehicles.

“But we won’t push,” Quah said. “An advocate loses objectivity.”

Quah’s goal is to reduce the number and types of batteries the service uses and to find new, lighter power sources.

“We’ll have to look at the requirement. Do [fuel cells] extend the capability,” said Quah. “Fuel cells will help us, but a lot of work needs to be done.”

National Laboratories
One place where that work is ongoing is at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a Department of Energy facility in Richland, Wash.

Gary McVay, director of fuel cell development activities at PNNL, agrees with Quah, about the military’s adoption of fuel cells.

“I don’t think they have been remiss at all,” said McVay. “We’ve done the research at the DOE, now the military can get engaged.”

PNNL has become involved in a joint effort between NASA and Boeing to employ fuel cells in commercial airplanes. The goal is to have a system in place within 10 years to provide auxiliary power, as well as the capability to produce water, said McVay.

Passenger jets take off with about 1,200 pounds of water onboard. A fuel cell could produce enough water to reduce the load by hundreds of pounds, said McVay. The system is expected to undergo its first demonstration in 2008, he added.

The Navy and Air Force also are building fuel cells for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV).

“We are working with the Air Force and Navy to define programs that use solid oxide fuel cells for remote bases,” said McVay.

A UUV fuel cell has unique requirements. It can’t release carbon dioxide in shallow water because it would make the UUV detectable, said McVay. Researchers are looking at ways to capture and hold onto the carbon dioxide until the vehicle is in deeper water, he added.

An underwater fuel cell system can work by generating oxygen from the water, said McVay.

For UAVs, the challenge is to keep them up in the air for sustained periods of time and to be quieter, said McVay.

Other military applications for fuel cells are trucks. The technology could not only save on fuel costs, but could be used to generate power, said McVay.

“That is why the commercial truck industry is going that route,” he said.

The military is also considering PEM fuel cells for man portable devices, said McVay. PEM or Proton Exchange Membrane (also called Polymer Electrolyte Membrane) fuel cell combines pure hydrogen and oxygen into water to produce electricity.

Because a PEM requires pure hydrogen or a reformer, it would not work for remote base power, or auxiliary or vehicle power.

But it may be decades before fuel cells become a primary energy source, said Steve Millet, a researcher with Battelle.

“It would take a major event to speed that up,” he said. Millet said there is no question fuel cells will work, but “will they work with 100 percent reliability?”

The biggest success for fuel cells, so far, has been in the space program. Fuel cells are used to provide power and as a water source. During space shuttle missions, fuel cells produce potable water.

“Someday, someone will figure out how to couple solar power and a fuel cell to produce water,” said Millet.

Combat applications are not easy to address. Putting hydrogen into canisters is expensive, said Millet. And there are safety issues too—hydrogen can blow up, he added.

“We don’t have good technology to manufacture, store and transport hydrogen,” said Millet. “That’s why a universal reformer makes sense. It could convert gas or Methanol.”

Millet believes auxiliary power for tanks, artillery and sea craft will be the first military uses for fuel cells.

Fuel cells someday could use biological material instead of hydrogen, said Millet. “There are some exotic ideas out there. Someone may have a breakthrough.”

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