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 October 16, 2004
 
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Hybrids on the High Seas; Fuel Cells For Future Ships; "Chatting" in Iraq
Released: 2/26/2004

Hybrids on the High Seas; Fuel Cells For Future Ships

As hybrid electric cars become more commonplace on America's highways, the Navy is working to bring hybrid electric ships to the high seas. The Office of Naval Research is developing innovative propulsion systems based on new fuel-cell technology for efficient generation of electrical power—and greater design flexibility—for future ships.

To ensure a relatively quick transition to this promising technology, ONR is funding development of a method to extract hydrogen from diesel fuel. A diesel reforming system would take advantage of the relative low cost of the fuel and the Navy's established infrastructure for buying, storing, and transporting it.

Unlike gas turbines and diesel engines, fuel cells do not require combustion, and therefore don't produce pollutants such as nitrogen oxide. Fuel cells are also far more efficient than combustion engines. ONR program officer Anthony Nickens explains that "the Navy's shipboard gas-turbine engines typically operate at 16 to 18 percent efficiency because Navy ships usually sail at low to medium speeds that don't require peak use of the power plant. The fuel cell system that ONR is developing will be capable of between 37 to 52 percent efficiency."

Moreover, fuel cells will permit design of a "distributed" power system, since unlike conventional engines, they can be dispersed throughout the ship instead of being co-located with the ship's shaft. This added flexibility will improve ship survivability. Nickens says that the Navy's DD(X) land-attack destroyer program is very interested in fuel cell technology as a supplemental power source. Fuel cells combine improved efficiency, low emissions, and design flexibility, all of which help slash shipbuilding costs—a bottom-line goal of the Navy's current "transformation" efforts.

ONR is testing a 500-kilowatt diesel fuel reformer, or "integrated fuel processor," that is compatible with a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell, at the Department of Energy Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in Idaho Falls. Reforming diesel is especially tricky due to the sulfur present in the fuel. The integrated fuel processor heats and vaporizes the diesel, then the sulfur in it is converted into hydrogen sulfide. The hydrogen sulfide is then exposed to zinc oxide, oxidizing the sulfur into sulfur dioxide, and separating it from the hydrogen.

The testing will continue through June 2004 to prove out the reforming process. Meanwhile, ONR is looking at design approaches to reduce the size of the processor, which consists of an arrangement of valves, water-gas shift reactors, an oxidizer, and other components, so that it won't take up too much space on a Navy ship.

For more information on this story, or to interview researchers and/or other individuals mentioned if you are working media, please contact Ed Walsh, 703-588-1010 or email: Edward_Walsh@onr.navy.mil.

"Chatting" in Iraq

United States and allied forces in Iraq face a complex environment of brutal enemies, new political entities, and vastly different cultures. The challenges are multiplied by language barriers: the Arabic of the Iraqis and the many languages of allies whose forces are supporting the operation. Yet today, technology funded by the Office of Naval Research, among other DoD organizations, is helping to narrow that cultural gap by enabling U.S. and coalition forces to communicate more effectively with the Iraqis and among themselves.

A "coalition chat line" now being used at several U.S. and allied sites around Iraq enables commanders and operators who speak different languages to communicate rapidly and reliably, using the "instant messaging" practices familiar to millions of teenagers.

In late 2002, Rear Adm. David T. Hart Jr., deputy commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe, suggested the U.S. and its allies use off-the-shelf technology to help them communicate rapidly and accurately, in a way that would reduce the costs and delays of conventional translation practices. In response, ONR's science advisor at the Naval European Command, Chris Hillenbrand, set up a working group with ONR's Tech Solutions office and the ONR math, computer and information sciences division to modify a program that MITRE Corp. had developed for several other service programs. TRIM, or trans-lingual instant messaging, was used in conjunction with a machine-translation engine from Logomedia Corp. and integrated with other commercial IT hardware. The result: the Coalition Chat Line. The technology is getting rave reviews from U.S. and allied-coalition personnel.

The chat line technology was evaluated during the May 2003 allied-coalition exercise Combined Endeavor, in which 39 nations participated. It was further evaluated in June during the annual BALTOPS, for the forces of 12 nations.

A call from an officer with the U.S.-allied Multi-National Division (MND) who had used the technology during Combined Endeavor, set the prototype chat line software through a quick round of testing at the Navy's SPAWAR Systems Center, San Diego. It was tested simultaneously in San Diego; London; Stuttgart, Germany; and Baghdad.

Hillenbrand and his team brought 10 notebook computers loaded with the chat line program to Iraq in November. Over four days they installed the software at MND headquarters at Al Hilla; a site run by a Polish unit at Karbala; a Spanish operation in Ad Diwaniyah; and for a Ukrainian brigade at Al Kut. The Ukrainians were able to use Cyrillic character sets with the chat line.

The chat line capability proved so effective and popular that the MND installed it on the more than 200 computers of their information-systems action officers. The chat line prototype, Hillenbrand says, "made a clean sweep" through the MND central network.

"The whole effort really extended across commands," notes Hillenbrand, "it's taken off like a freight train on the run." The project is a collaboration of ONR, SPAWAR, European Command, and the U.S. Central Command—as well as the allies. The team now is responding to requests for the chat line capability from the U.S. senior army commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez and the British commander in southern Iraq.

For more information on this story, or to interview researchers and/or other individuals mentioned if you are working media, please contact Ed Walsh, 703-588-1010 or email: Edward_Walsh@onr.navy.mil.

 

 
 
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