Aluminum Based Power for AUVs

September 2013 -- May 2014

2.013 Engineering Systems Design and 2.014 Engineering Systems Development is a set of capstone classes in the Mechanical Engineering Department at MIT. Intended for advanced and independent students, the class is modeled as a high tech start up. A small group of students design and develop a novel new technology for a client. Led by a student CEO, students organize themselves into sub-teams, working across fields to solve problems and create innovative new designs.

Aluminum based power has been researched for the past fifty years primarily by the US and Russian Navies. From a chemical standpoint, aluminum has much greater energy density than lithium, the basis for many modern batteries. This group was the first to ever successfully run a motor from only aluminum based power. The project is still in development within MIT Lincoln Labs and an MIT graduate student.

In 2.013 (Fall 2013) 15 students worked to develop and design the housing of an aluminum permanganate battery for integration with an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). We worked closely with MIT Lincoln Labs (our sponsor), the Office of Naval Research, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI). The battery chemistry was provided by a start up spun out of a previous iteration of the class and we were tasked with integrating the new technology into an AUV. We maximized energy density, designed the battery cell housing that would withstand caustic chemicals within the battery and pressures 100 feet under water, designed electronics and controls and battery management system (BMS), and designed critical pieces for system integration including hull, buoyancy foam, and electric and mechanical connections to the vehicle. I was the Documentation Manager for this project. In addition to my work as an engineer, I maintained open communications between subteams, prepared final documentation of the project, and prepared presentations to key stakeholders such as member of the MIT Mechanical Engineering Department, MIT Lincoln Labs, ONR, and WHOI.

In 2.014 (Spring 2014) the class switched focus from battery development to refinement and redesign of an aluminum based reactor. I became the class CEO and was responsible for managing 30 engineers from multiple departments to redesign the aluminum reactor from a previous class. We were the first to ever successfully run a motor off of aluminum based power.