NEXTECH MATERIALS, LTD. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: In this Phase II SBIR project, NexTech Materials will continue development of high power d

Description

In this Phase II SBIR project, NexTech Materials will continue development of high power density solid oxide fuel cell power systems for ship-service applications. The system being developed is based on planar stacks of NexTech"s proprietary FlexCells, which offer unprecedented sulfur tolerance (simplifying the use of JP-8 as a fuel) and scalability to very large areas (making it feasible to build stacks with 500+ kW power outputs). In Phase I of this project, NexTech completed preliminary designs of a JP-8 fueled 500-kW SOFC power plant and a high power density SOFC stack that is core to this power plant. In Phase II of the project, NexTech proposes further development of its NexTech"s large-area stack technology to validate the design principles of the 500-kW scale stack design established in Phase I. Work in the project will focus on testing of large-area FlexCells under conditions specific to ship-service power applications, design and modeling of large-area SOFC stacks, fabrication and testing of stacks made with large-area FlexCells, and delivery of a stack to NAVSEA for demonstration testing.