LIFT, the Detroit-based Department of Defense manufacturing innovation institute, has launched a project to develop a pilot line to produce electrochemical separators for U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) energy systems at the institute’s Detroit facility in Corktown.
The project, sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s (OSD) Manufacturing Science and Technology Program (MSTP), should result in the development of low-cost domestic separators for energy storage and conversion systems.
The separators are key components in electrochemical devices for both energy storage and energy conversion. They are used to separate chemical reactants, conduct electric current, and reject waste heat from the devices.
This project is necessary because it is difficult and capital intensive to fabricate lightweight, high quality, corrosion resistant separators for energy devices in the power range needed by DoD, and they are currently unavailable from a U.S.-based manufacturer.
As part of this project, LIFT will design a production line and produce units for testing over the next two years before moving into full production. Afterwards, LIFT will assist in locating a permanent provider and home for the production line to continue operation.
“The benefits of this program to the DoD are threefold,” says Kevin Cronin, program manager for the DoD. “It will secure the supply chain of a critical component of energy systems, it will lower costs, and it will create an enduring research tool for separators in general. All of these benefits lend to providing the warfighter the best technology we can get them.”
