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For 70 years Yardney has been a leader in specialty battery and energy systems for military, space, avionics, weapon systems and undersea vehicles. In addition to battery systems, Yardney also delivers hybrid systems for ground, space, undersea and avionic applications. The beauty of hybrid systems, combining energy sources such as batteries, capacitors, fuel cells and solar, is that they can be used to optimize energy and power density, and with proper design, the systems can also lead to longevity of components and an overall cost savings. For ground applications, utilization of hybrid systems can assist in conservation of fuel by making vehicle applications more efficient. For space applications, satisfying pulses can be improved by a capacitor and battery hybrid energy storage system. To optimize aircraft performance and decrease operating costs, avionics are beginning to move towards more electric aircrafts (MEA).

Experimental Lithium-ion (Li-ion) cells were constructed with three different types of Li-ion cathode materials and two different graphitic anodes. The cathode materials were lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide, LiNiXCoYAlZO2 (NCA), lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide, LiNiXCoYMnZO2 (NCM), and lithium iron phosphate, LiFePO4 (FEP). The two graphitic anodes differed only in particle size. The cells were built in lots identified by their cathode and anode materials. The goal was to develop a battery for Naval Aviation applications. Initial testing favored the cells built with an NCM cathode. Further testing was per MIL-PRF-8565/14(AS) with Amendment 1, which resulted in a reduced voltage range during testing favoring the NCA lots. The cells were tested under two different types of cycle life conditions. In both cases, the NCA lots fared best. The NCA lots also had the lowest DC Resistance (DC Res) results (both ≤10 mΩ).

Yardney Technical Product's (YTP) Lithion Division has developed advanced high power battery systems for numerous manned and unmanned systems. Specifically, for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), YTP has developed and delivered high energy designs for both the Global Hawk and the X-37. YTP has delivered high power batteries for electric torpedoes and high energy batteries for both the manned Advanced Seal Delivery System (ASDS) and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). Additionally, YTP is underway in the Qualification testing of our fourth Unmanned Martian Vehicle (UMV), the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). The performance and environmental requirements of these systems demonstrates the importance of battery thermal design and also some of the inherent limitations of the commercially available active materials. The above applications are largely military and aerospace, therefore a desire exists for the raw materials to come from conflict-secure sources.

In a collaborative effort, Lithion and NASA/JPL developed a lithium ion battery capable of meeting the physical and electrochemical requirements for the 2003/2004 Mars Exploration Rover (MER) missions. The cells provide up to 145 Wh/kg, while the specific energy at the battery level, including wiring harnesses, thermal hardware and mounting hardware is approximately 90 Wh/kg. This paper discusses the specific requirements of the mission and how those requirements were met. Furthermore, an overview of the technique used to select cells for batteries is presented. The cell selection criteria resulted in cell to cell variation of approximately ± 0.6% in the first qualification unit.