The U.S. Army is developing a battery to enhance Soldiers’ agility at the battlefield while meeting the demands of an increased power burden stemming from new networked electronic devices.
The Conformal Wearable Battery, or CWB, is versatile and integrates right into a Soldier’s body armor. It conforms to the body, which Army officials say is a major upgrade to standard batteries which can be rectangular and ponderous.
The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command,or RDECOM, and Program Executive Office Soldier have partnered to meet the necessities of today’s networked Soldier with the CWB.
ERGONOMIC BATTERY INTEGRATED INTO UNIFORM
Developing a battery that matches seamlessly right into a Soldier’s uniform was one of several project’s priorities, said Christopher Hurley, an electronics engineer who leads the battery development projects team at RDECOM’s Communications-Electronics Research, Development, referred to as CERDEC, and Engineering Center.
“Our role is to develop smaller, lighter, cost-effective power sources,” Hurley said. “Providing a wearable, ergonomic, comfortable footprint is prime. [We took] that enormous, bulky battery and made it conformable and more well-off to be worn by the Soldier.”
The CWB provides more power, reduces the desire for battery re-charging and spares, and serves as a single source of power for all worn electronic devices, Hurley said.
Hurley said the Army’s standard batteries, the BA-2590 and BA-5590, were designed to be placed in battery boxes and massive communication equipment and never to be worn by the Soldier to power his electronics.
The CWB, however, is made in particular to be worn within a tactical vest, said Steve Mapes, product director for Soldier Power within PEO Soldier’s Project Manager Soldier Warrior.
“[The conformal battery] allows the Warfighter to share space with other equipment that he has to hold on his load carriage,” Mapes said. “A traditional 2590 or 5590 doesn’t share space at the body armor. It requires its own committed space at the load carriage.
“When you slip a conformal battery into the protecting vest and over the [Small Arms Protective Insert] plate, it’s virtually invisible and transparent to the Soldier. Now the Soldier can still hang his magazine, grenades or flashlight over the battery. The conformal battery allows the Soldier to share valuable, limited real estate.”
SINGLE SOURCE OF POWER
Hurley and his fellow CERDEC engineers have developed six CWB prototypes since 2008. During each iteration, the goal have been to illustrate a battery it is smaller, lighter, provides longer-lasting power and eliminates the necessity for a separate battery for every electronic device, he said.
“We look to attenuate a Soldier’s load with the collection of batteries [Soldiers] carry and consolidate that into as few batteries as we will,” Hurley explained. “The conformal battery is a centralized power source for every little thing that a Soldier must carry — GPS, smartphone, radio, other electronics, (and) eliminate the additional batteries for every individual item.”
“No longer do you want to hold extra radio or GPS batteries,” he continued. “You only must carry spares for the conformal battery.”
CERDEC accomplishes these advancements through experimenting inside the laboratory with different chemistry formulations that yield a high-energy, high-power battery which is safe, Hurley said. The objective is a battery that allows 72 hours of continuing operation.
MEETING NETWORKED SOLDIERS’ POWER REQUIREMENTS
The Army’s conventional batteries can not handle the ability demands for worn devices along with Nett Warrior, a handheld tool that gives situational awareness and mission command capabilities, Mapes said.
These networked systems are always sending and receiving data, identical to leaving a mobile phone on during a flight. They continuously seek for a signal, which rapidly drains the battery.
“The introduction of ‘Soldier inside the network’ brings with it an unprecedented level of capability and amount of power consumers which are worn at the individual warfighter,” Mapes said. “You have an influence burden that hasn’t ever before been imposed upon Soldiers, particularly the small-unit leaders. The standard power strategy for the person warfighter was fast becoming impractical and irrelevant.”
SUPPORT THROUGH DEFENSE ACQUISITION CHALLENGE
Mapes said the Defense Acquisition Challenge Program,or DAC, helped the military accelerate the battery’s progress and ultimately deliver them to Soldiers sooner. DAC provided a part of the project’s funding from 2010 to 2012.
“DAC allowed us to take samples earlier for testing and validation,” Mapes said. “[We received] preliminary Soldier feedback so lets make some immediate improvements at the battery and get a more production-representative version out to the formations. We leveraged everything lets to accelerate tests, user feedback, exposure of the battery to the formation.”
“Bottom line, we wouldn’t have had the batteries available to head through these tests and get the warriors to apply and evaluate them had it not been for these earlier efforts,” Mapes continued.
The Department of Defense established DAC in 2003 based on a Congressional mandate for a program that was innovative, flexible, competitive and affordable to integrate mature technologies into the purchase cycle.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense Comparative Technology Office evaluates the proposals and selects candidates for funding. The RDECOM Global Technology Integration Team manages this system for the military. DAC was funded through fiscal year 2012.
BENEFITS OF ARMY R&D CENTER
Hurley emphasized that working with a military research, development and engineering center includes complete program management — development, prototyping, engineering support, in-house testing and evaluation.
“Not only will we have the expertise of developing batteries and other power sources, but we also know the way these come together in a Soldier network for something like Nett Warrior,” Hurley said. “We understand the combination and the way the battery marries up with the alternative Soldier-borne electronics.
“Our lab is different because we develop complete products. We don’t develop a single component. We’re a product-oriented organization.”
FUTURE OF CONFORMAL BATTERY
PEO Soldier and CERDEC have taken the CWB to giant Army demonstrations and exercises reminiscent of the C4ISR Network Modernization, Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment and Network Integration Evaluation. These tests allow the organizations to capture Soldiers’ feedback with a purpose to shape future versions of the battery.
Mapes said the battery will make a major improvement in Soldiers’ missions.
“We have already realized gains within the area of Soldier load and reduction within the numbers and kinds of battery. I’m very encouraged by the feedback. I don’t must sell it. i locate myself within the pleasant position of not having to convince Soldiers that they wish this. They’re requesting it. It’s very gratifying,” he said.
RDECOM is a prime subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command. AMC is the Army’s premier provider of materiel readiness — technology, acquisition support, materiel development, logistics power projection, and sustainment — to the whole force, around the spectrum of joint military operations. If a Soldier shoots it, drives it, flies it, wears it, eats it or communicates with it, AMC delivers it.
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