Army wants soldiers' devices to keep going, and going, and going

Today's soldiers on special force teams require a lot of electrical power, so much so that they need to tote as much as 40 pounds of batteries onto the battlefield to run an array of gear that includes multiple radios, GPS receivers and laptops.

When batteries run out of juice, troops simply throw them away. Every year, the service tosses out about 350,000 of its standard BA 5590 tactical batteries, which cost about $100 each, according to some estimates.

To save money and to reduce soldier's battery load, which includes carrying lots of replacements, the Army could use rechargeable batteries. But battlefields lack electrical outlets.

That's why the Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center at Fort Monmouth, N.J., asked the technology industry on May 10 to submit ideas for wearable generators for soldiers. The suggestions should be based on advanced technologies such as fuel cells and portable Stirling engines, which is an updated version of steam engine technology.

Ian Kaye, director of advance technology for UltraCell Corp., a fuel cell manufacturer in Livermore, Calif., said if a company invented a portable power source that could provide the required energy for myriad mobile consumer electronic devices, they would be richer than Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

In the absence of such a breakthrough, the Army must investigate technologies aimed at a combination of lightweight portable generators and advanced rechargeable batteries, an approach that would reduce a soldier's load and save the service money, he said.

The request for information comes almost two years after the Defense Department sponsored a Wearable Power Competition, in which UltraCell placed second behind a team led by Dupont.

In December 2009, UltraCell won a $3 million contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, to develop a 50-watt portable fuel cell system generates electricity from the kind of methane found in windshield washer fluid -- minus the blue dye, Kaye said.

The generator is the size of a matchbox and the total weight of the system, including fuel, is 13 pounds for a four-day combat mission, Kaye said. UltraCell intends to respond to the Army RFI with a more advanced system but declined to provide details.

The portable power system reduces the weight and price of the batteries by providing juice to a $300 battery that can be recharged up to 300 times, Kaye said.

The Army also asked for ideas on how to tap solar and wind power to recharge batteries.

Responses are due on May 19. The Communications-Electronics Research, Development, and Engineering Center said it could not answer queries on the advanced power project because the personnel working on the program were not be available.