The Electrochemistry Branch in the Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate at Army Research Laboratory is working to fix that by creating fuel cells that are lighter, more efficient and more durable than existing batteries. The new fuel cells will help soldiers by lessening the number of batteries that they carry for missions lasting longer than 24 hours.
Dr. Cynthia Lundgren, chief of the electrochemistry Branch, discussed that fuel cell technology, which has the potential to lower the weight burden carried by soldiers, during a Oct. 21 webcast of “Armed with Science: Research and Applications for the Modern Military.”
Depending on their role in the battalion, some soldiers may carry as much as 35 pounds of batteries with them for a 72-hour mission, Lundgren said. She’d like to see that weight reduced to 12 pounds.
Listen to the audio here.
Read the article here.
To read a transcript from this interview, click here.
Many of the best ideas for solving Warfighter challenges come from the Warfighters themselves. Unfortunately, these good ideas often get buried in the bureaucracy and never make it into the formal acquisition, research, and/or development processes. In 2004, a small team of ANG officers sought to correct this by “data mining” good ideas from front line Citizen-Airmen and then rapidly delivering inexpensive, high return-on-investment solutions.
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