Salt Water Activated Power System (SWAPS) for ocean buoys and related platforms

Ocean buoys often rely on batteries, solar cells, and wind and wave generated power to drive on-board instrumentation and communications equipment. Power demands are increasing as instrument requirements are added and deployment times extended. Un-tethered, station-keeping buoys also use much more energy and power for propulsion. Mil3, Inc has developed a superior Seawater Activated Power Source (SWAPSTM, patent-applied) which is more portable, safe, and economical for marine buoys and related applications. SWAPS utilizes a metal alloy reacting with saltwater to produce hydrogen as fuel for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells to produce electricity at efficiencies approaching 50%. With an energy density of 1.4 kWh/kg and scalability for power requirements of watts to kilowatts, SWAPS is lighter and less expensive than batteries, and can always produce 100% of its design output power. The only chemical by-product is a metal hydroxide which naturally occurs in seawater. SWAPS stores potential energy in its alloy fuel, provides power on-demand, is inherently self-regulating, and requires no moving parts or external control In contrast, batteries represent low energy density, excessive mass and volume and prohibitive costs for many applications. Bulky solar panels, and wind and wave driven generators do not provide energy storage and are dependent on factors such as time of day, weather conditions, tides, currents, and wind velocity. The best of these technologies may only produce 45% of its design power, which requires over-sizing and energy storage by batteries. Mil3 has proved the operation of an 80 W SWAPS unit on a prototype buoy representing a large meteorological buoy to be deployed for 6 months. Together with Falmouth Scientific Inc., Mil3 has also successfully demonstrated the use of a 35 kWh SWAPS unit to provide 180 W (220 W peak) to a station-keeping spar buoy built for the Navy. In sea states between 3 and 4, SWAPS consistently powered the buoy prop motor against currents greater than 1 knot, all instrumentation and radio telemetry, while additionally charging a Li-ion backup battery. The team is preparing a new SWAPS unit for providing all power for a 40 kW Navy acoustic pulsed power system.