8/18/06Contact:Mitch Emmons, 334/844-5964 (emmonmb@auburn.edu )
David M. Granger, 334/844-9999 (grangdm@auburn.edu )

AU RESEARCHERS TO DEMONSTRATE NEW BATTERY-CHARGING TECHNOLOGY DESIGNED FOR USE BY U.S. MILITARY

AUBURN - A platoon of U.S. soldiers in todays high-tech military will use around 650 disposable AA batteries during a five-day mission. On Wednesday, Aug. 23, researchers from Auburn University's Space Research Institute, with their partner Radiance Technologies Inc., will demonstrate a technology designed to provide a reliable and portable system of supplying batteries to our soldiers.

Soldiers use batteries for weapons-sighting equipment, field computers, Global Positioning Systems and other equipment, said Henry Brandhorst, director of AU's Space Research Institute. The volume of batteries used in today's military is astonishing, and because they can't be recharged and used in multiple applications, it creates a logistical nightmare. For the past three years the AU-led research team has worked to develop small, quiet, portable and reliable battery-recharging technologies based on the long-standing and proven Stirling engine converter.

The free-piston Stirling converter is a technology that has existed for more than 40 years, said Brandhorst. It uses heat from an external source and converts this heat to electrical power. It has only two moving parts and because the external heat can come from a multitude of sources, this technology is a reliable basis for military and other defense-related applications.
According to Brandhorst, the research team has refined this technology, and developed battery recharging systems ranging from 35 watts to 25,000 watts. The Army is interested in a 160-watt system that operates on diesel fuel.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration also funded a five kilowatt fission-powered project at AU to the tune of $2.6 million for possible space power applications, said Brandhorst. Brandhorst said the AU-developed technology - with propane fuel in the prototype - has proven itself in more than 500 hours of laboratory testing and is capable of generating enough electrical power to charge six AA batteries every 15 minutes.

This means that more than 150 AA batteries can be charged for each pound of propane fuel used, Brandhorst said. We believe that this technology has the potential to greatly increase the efficiency of supplying American soldiers in the field with battery power. The demonstration is from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 23 at Auburn University's Leach Science Center.

News media interested in covering the Aug. 23 demonstration should obtain clearance through the AU Space Research Institute by contacting SRI director Henry Brandhorst, 334/844-5894 (brandhh@auburn.edu).

Auburn University is a preeminent land-grant and comprehensive research institution with more than 23,000 students and 6,500 faculty and staff. Ranked among the top 50 public universities nationally, Auburn is Alabama’s largest educational institution, offering more than 230 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs.

(Contributed by Mitch Emmons.)
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