Potential non-NASA commercial applications lie in the energy storage market, which is predicted to grow to $60 ~ 70 billion by year 2012. The applications include: (a) electrical energy storage in centralized power generation and distribution, and renewable power generation (wind power and solar power); (b) uninterrupted power sources for computer, data center and semiconductor industry; (c) for automotive industry on hybrid electrical vehicles (HEV) and plug-in hybrid electrical vehicle (PHEV).
The subject rechargeable battery will be developed for supporting Venus exploration mission activities. Thanks to the nature of high temperature operation, the proposed rechargeable battery also enables thermal integration with other high temperature power generation devices, such as solid oxide fuel cells, to form a hybrid energy conversion-storage system. Such hybrid systems can provide a high round-trip efficiency and thus have the potential to prolong the NASA long-duration missions with substantial savings in mission costs and launch/landing masses. In addition, it is also expected to have other NASA commercial applications, which include but not limit to auxiliary power units in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and uninterrupted power sources.
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