GEI Administration Control Panel

Military

The U.S. Army is transforming itself into a globally deployable force. The new force will need to operate with a smaller, more deployable logistics support system. Because much of the present logistics support systems exist to move fuel, improved battlefield fuel economy will help reduce logistics support requirements. These forces need new lightweight, fuel-efficient, air transportable equipment, with light, efficient logistics support systems.

 To offset the obvious reductions in armor and heavy weapons in this new force, new vehicles are being developed as part of the Future Combat Systems (FCS). The FCS is not a single vehicle or vehicle family, but rather a system of systems designed to use lighter weapons and faster vehicles more effectively to achieve the results of heavier forces. Two of the keys to this increased effectiveness are reducing the forces’ dependence on a heavy logistics support system and the development of an integrated battlefield data-sharing environment for U.S. forces, called “battlefield digitization.”

 Battlefield digitization has created new vehicle electric power demands. To be effective, digitization equipment must operate essentially all the time. A digitization suite includes items such as computers, digital radios, encryption systems, displays, identification friend-or-foe (IFF) and Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, with a combined power demand typically around one-kilowatt (kW), or 36 amps (A) on a military vehicle 28-volt system. This demand, when added to the power needed for personnel heaters, battery charging, sighting and detection equipment, often exceeds vehicle alternator capacities. The situation is made worse by the need for long waiting, or “silent watch” periods, during military operations in which a vehicle crew must minimize noise, thermal and other emissions for scouting or ambush. This effectively rules out running an engine.

GEI Solution

Quiet, efficient fuel cell Auxiliary Power Units (APU) that can use military logistics fuels, such as DF-2 and JP-8, will improve overall battlefield fuel economy by allowing vehicles to avoid engine idling during the extended waiting periods that occur in combat. Fuel cell APUs will address the emerging need for additional electric power to support modern digital communications during operation as well as during silent watch requirements.

The benefits of the GEI X5 Fuel Cell APU are:

1.Provides multiple reprogrammable fuel cell power output channels to meet the varying and changing needs of military field and camp operations. (Protected Patented Technology)

2.Employs high-temperature PEM fuel cell stack technology that allows for the economical processing of local logistic fuels such as low-sulfur diesel, propane, JP-8, and JP10.

Summary

Reducing battlefield fuel consumption is critical for the FCS, because fuel is currently 70 percent of the supply tonnage needed to sustain a battle. During the Gulf War, a U.S. division at full advance required 600,000 gallons of fuel per day. Improved force-wide fuel economy is the single best way to reduce the logistics support system needed by deployed forces; it also provides important secondary benefits as follows:

 1.  A lighter, smaller logistics system is quicker to deploy, enabling U.S. forces to enter combat sooner, with an increased chance to defeat a poorly prepared enemy.  

2. Whereas a large logistics “tail” creates its own supply needs and ties up combat assets in its own protection, a small logistics system is less vulnerable to enemy attack.

 3.  Improved ground vehicle fuel economy can contribute to overall battlefield fuel savings and thus improve operational and theater-level logistics.  

4.  At the operational level, fuel-efficient combat vehicles clearly need fewer fuel tankers to support them. But fewer tankers further translate into less fuel consumed by the tankers themselves. This creates an environment in which fewer resources must be massed to stage or sustain an attack, and increases a commander’s ability to exploit an enemy’s weakness.

 5. The reduction of fuel consumption at the theater level may reduce the naval, shipping, and air resources needed to deliver supplies. 

It’s anticipated that fuel cell APU’s will result in a 15%-20% fuel savings as compared to using the main engine for auxiliary power or a diesel APU. Additionally, the GEI X5 has the advantage of fuel diversity and is capable of using local logistics fuels such as low sulfur diesel, propane, methanol, ethanol, and bio-diesel fuels.