Wright Electric to conduct battery research for the US Air Force
Founded in 2016, the company specialises in ultra-light motors and batteries for electric aircraft. Wright Electric has now been awarded an SBIR Phase 1 contract by the US Air Force AFWERX. The aim of the contract is to investigate the possibility of using Wright’s rechargeable thermal batteries in unmanned multi-rotor aerial vehicles (UAV) where high power output is critical. In other words, it is initially a research contract to explore the possibility of using the technology in the U.S. Air Force, but not a real contract.
“We’ve heard from many aerospace and defense customers that they want compact batteries with extremely high power output,” says Aaron Rowe, battery engineer at Wright Electric. “Thanks to support from the Air Force, we can take our first steps with a new program to deliver batteries that are extremely compact and capable of ultra high discharge rates.”
Disposable batteries, which operate at high temperatures and are often referred to as thermal batteries, are used in a variety of military equipment. Wright Electric wants to use additive manufacturing to quickly produce small quantities of rechargeable batteries that can serve as replacements for old thermal batteries to ensure a stable supply chain for critical defence components.
“Instead of advancing a completely new battery chemistry, our aim is to develop a process that will let us do limited production runs of exotic batteries at a reasonable cost. We will construct a production line that can very rapidly adapt to the needs of our customers,” explained Rowe.
Wright Electric was founded in 2016 and works with NASA, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and the US Department of Defence, among others. Last year, Wright Electric launched an initiative to develop high-energy batteries. The aim is to achieve an energy density of 1,000 watt-hours per kilogramme.
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