PEMERY is the Rip Van Winkle of power sources.
Inventor David J. Pristash (Brecksville, OH) has developed a micro Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Battery or PEMERY configured uniquely from several emerging nanotechnologies. The micro fuel cell is able to remain dormant for years, even decades, far longer than any chemical battery, and then spring into action when called upon to provide electrical power.
The novel battery/fuel cell and the method for its fabrication have applications across a wide range of fields, ranging from military ordnance systems to commercial signaling devices or detectors, and to space exploration where a power-up cycle may be called upon a year or even many years following a launch. Its miniature size makes the novel fuel cell particularly suitable anytime and anywhere where space is limited, weight is critical and time to power-up may be considerably long.
Inventor David J. Pristash (Brecksville, OH) has developed a micro Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Battery or PEMERY configured uniquely from several emerging nanotechnologies. The micro fuel cell is able to remain dormant for years, even decades, far longer than any chemical battery, and then spring into action when called upon to provide electrical power.
The novel battery/fuel cell and the method for its fabrication have applications across a wide range of fields, ranging from military ordnance systems to commercial signaling devices or detectors, and to space exploration where a power-up cycle may be called upon a year or even many years following a launch. Its miniature size makes the novel fuel cell particularly suitable anytime and anywhere where space is limited, weight is critical and time to power-up may be considerably long.
U.S. Patent Application 20100000434 details the process of making a PEMERY micro fuel cell that include three major features using a nanotechnology:
(1) a polymer electrolyte membrane, or PEM using nanostructured membranes and catalysts;
(2) miniature nanotechnology storage tanks or cells for hydrogen and oxygen to be relied upon by the fuel cell in generating electricity which may be fracturable, frangible, rupturable, or puncturable in order to be activated to release the hydrogen and oxygen’
(3) and a miniature or nanotechnology"inertial" switch, such as a G-force switch or centrifugal-force switch. Recently, delicate, micro-inertia switches have been developed that may be employed in this structural context. Upon the imposition of dynamic forces of movement, usually expressed in terms of G forces, overcoming the biasing force, the probes move against their respective membranes, thereby rupturing or penetrating the membranes. In this way, hydrogen and oxygen are released to flow to the fuel cell region.
When assembled, these three features or components together may present a very small package suitable as a power source for numerous applications, but targeted for application as a power source for munitions.
U.S. Patent Application 20100000434, Figure 3 illustrates the basic design of the Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Battery (PEMERY)
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Battery employs small blocks of material are infiltrated with micro channels, cavities, passages, sinuses or nano-tunnels functioning as one or more storage media. In a munitions application where a very short active life is required, material constructed with micro-cavities or nano-tunnels afford adequate storage capacity for the hydrogen and oxygen used to run the fuel cell for a period of time sufficient to carry out its objectives.
In 2006, Pemery Corp. was awarded a $775,300 Third Frontier grant from the Ohio Department of Development to design, build and test 120 fuel cells of Pemery's fuel cell power source, the PEMERY ™ P-101, for use in the U.S. Army’s latest generation “smart munitions” fuze, the Precision Guidance Kit (PGK). The PGK program will improve the accuracy and effectiveness of conventional artillery ammunition residing in Army’s ammunition stockpiles.
Pemery and its collaborators designed, built and successfully tested a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane fuel cell-based power source for the U.S. Army's latest generation "smart munitions" fuze, the Precision Guidance Kit (PGK).
The PGK fuze requires at least 8-watts of power and the power source must offer a shelf life of 20 years or more, operate over a wide range of temperatures, and survive gun muzzle velocities and forces. Current battery technologies cannot meet these stringent specifications. Sales are projected to reach $50 million per year by 2010, and could lead to the creation of up to 400 manufacturing jobs. Collaborators on this project include Edison Materials Technology Center; IMAX Industries, Inc.; Alliant TechSystems, Inc.; KDI Precision Products, Inc.; and the U.S. Army.
“The U.S. Army tells us that no known power source exists today capable of meeting the electrical power needs of the PGK program, and we are confident Pemery’s power sources will meet this need by applying cutting edge fuel cell technology,” said Pemery President David J. Pristash at the time of the award in 2006.
Fuel cells were built in Painesville, Ohio, and tested in military and contractor air guns in 2006. The Ashlawn Group now produces the PGK power source. Production continued at low rate through 2007, with full-rate production starting in 2008. The program is expected to run through 2020, with average annual production of 100,000 units.
Headquartered in Painesville, Pemery was founded by The Ashlawn Group in 2004 to organize, manage and grow fuel cell activities and to manufacture fuel cells in Ohio. The Ashlawn Group provides fuel cell power supplies that meet the United States Department of Defense's advanced power requirements for precision-guided munitions and remote sensing applications. With its patented and patent-pending fuel cell technology and its experience in product development, design and manufacturing process engineering solutions, Ashlawn is committed to scaling large-volume fuel cell production with the high quality standards required to meet the needs of today's warfighters.
