EATONTOWN, N.J., 2 Jan. 2007.Millennium Cell Inc., a developer of hydrogen battery technology, has developed and demonstrated for its U.S. military market partners and potential customers its next-generation hydrogen fuel cartridge technology.
The prototype cartridge was coupled to a fuel cell system provided by the Protonex Technology Corporation. This demonstration showcased a fuel cartridge operating the Protonex P2 unit at 33 percent higher power and greater than 35 percent more energy per unit weight than previously achieved and exceeded the 500Wh/kg system energy density targets established by the military. The program plan is to exceed 550Wh/kg before final release of the new cartridge technology which is scheduled to be used in the Company's licensees' products in 2007.
The P2 unit was developed by the two companies under multiple contracts with the Air Force Research Lab and the U.S. Army Research Lab.
This battery is the portable energy supply for the Battlefield Air Operation kit that has been developed by Protonex and Northrop Grumman under the Air Force's BRITES Spiral 2 program.
Earlier this year, Millennium Cell was awarded a $4.0 million delivery order from the Air Force to develop the next generation of sodium borohydride based fuel cartridge technology to address higher energy density targets for future power sources. Successful demonstration of 500Wh/kg is consistent with the objectives of that program.
A delivery of twenty P2 units and sixty fuel cartridges to the Concurrent Technology Corporation's Fuel Cell Test Center began earlier this month. This delivery is expected to be completed in January and CTC will begin a test plan at that time that will evaluate the P2 in military standard conditions. This body of test results from this study will provide third party validation of the performance of the P2 system and is expected to be used by military agencies to make purchase decisions regarding this system.
