DRS Power and Control Technologies and San Francisco–based Lithiumstart Inc. have signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to develop energy-storage modules, or ESMs, for Arleigh Burke–class destroyers now in service and under construction.
DRS provides power-management systems for many Navy surface ships and submarines; Lithiumstart builds lithium-ion battery-control systems for defense and commercial uses.
The team and the Navy also are exploring potential operational concepts for the ESM for controlling the flow of tremendous surges of power that will be needed by advanced radars and pulse-power weapons, such as lasers and electromagnetic rail guns, while maintaining power levels required for other ship systems.
A team official explained that, by way of example, if a pulse-power weapon were fired without the guarantee of power provided by the ESM, “all the lights would dim.”
The MOA, signed in December, follows the awarding of a $17 million Navy contract to DRS in late 2013 for preliminary and detailed design, production, and engineering support for the ESMs, which the company says will function as shipwide uninterruptible-power supplies.
The ESM program now is in a design-and-qualification phase with a critical design review planned for later this year. The contract includes options for ESM installations for 30 Burke-class Flights I, II, and IIA ships. If exercised, all the options could increase the value of the award to around $88 million.
The Navy’s planned Flight III Arleigh Burkes are being designed to provide dramatic upgrades in combat capabilities and improvements for machinery-control and damage-control systems. The Flight IIIs will be equipped with a new air-missile-defense radar, a power-intensive system being developed by Raytheon to be capable of detecting ballistic missiles and other long-range airborne threats. In current Navy planning, the first Flight III ship will be second of two Burkes to be funded in Fiscal Year 2016.
The ESM consists of three sub-modules housed in cabinets, which will be part of the ship’s power grid. In the event of any interruption of power to the vessel’s Rolls-Royce ship-service gas-turbine generators (SSGTGs), which power all ship services for the Burke class except propulsion, the sub-modules will provide 2.5 megawatts of power for up to three minutes, allowing time to restart the SSGTGs.
DRS officials say that the ESM incorporates the company’s power electronic-module (PEM) technology, which is used in other Navy applications. Because the ESMs will ensure consistent power flow, the company says, the ship will be able to operate on one SSGTG instead of both under certain conditions, thereby reducing fuel consumption.
DRS is prime on the ESM effort and will act as systems integrator and provide the capability to convert the DC power generated by Lithiumstart’s “battery pack” to AC power for use by ship systems.
Lithiumstart integrates lithium-ion battery cells obtained from commercial suppliers into battery packs designed to ensure the required power level plus safety, survivability, and maintainability. The company also provides its battery packs to the Missile Defense Agency and the Army.
Company officials point out that without adequate safeguards, lithium-ion batteries can be dangerous, citing well-publicized incidents in 2013 in which lithium batteries caught fire on board Boeing 787 Dreamliner commercial aircraft operated by Japan Airlines and United Airlines.
For the ESM, Lithiumstart integrates the lithium-ion cells in its BlueFlex energy-storage system, which is designed using techniques to ensure safe operation. The ESS consists of 48-volt modules stacked to operate with the DRS PEM technology, which precisely regulates power discharge and carries out the DC-to-AC power conversion.
The DRS-Lithiumstart ESM will be scalable from 500 kilowatts to “tens of megawatts,” the team says, providing sufficient power for pulse-power weapons and all ship-system power requirements.