Mary-Louise Hoffman
An Advent Technologies subsidiary will further develop and pursue certification of a 50-watt portable fuel cell power generation system for use by soldiers under a contract with the U.S. Army.
UltraCell aims to achieve military standard compliance for the Honey Badger, a wearable power generator designed to operate on plate carriers or backpacks that military personnel use, Advent said Monday.
The system is being developed to work with the Army’s Integrated Visual Augmentation System other surveillance equipment that can be powered by reformed methanol fuel cell technology.
The contract award from Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center comes after the Department of Defense tapped UltraCell to present its power source technology in a demonstration program.
Advent noted the system took part in Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiments and high-altitude tests in the Sierra Nevada, California, mountain range.
Under the contract, UltraCell will also develop an integrated filtration system for a cleaning compound that includes approximately 70 percent methanol and water.
