US-based Wright Electric, a manufacturer of ultra-lightweight motors, generators and batteries for aerospace and military applications, has been awarded the US Air Force AFWERX SBIR Phase 1 contract to develop Wright’s rechargeable thermal batteries for use in multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles.

Wright, in conjunction with NASA, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and the Department of Defense (DoD), has been developing ultra-lightweight motors and batteries for aircraft and also identifying industrial and military-related applications for them.

Under the contract, Wright will leverage additive manufacturing to quickly produce small volumes of rechargeable batteries that can take the place of the legacy single-use, high-operating-temperature thermal batteries that are widely used in a range of military equipment.

“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,” said Aaron Rowe, Engineering Manager, Batteries, 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.”

Source: Wright