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At the end of 2007 SAFT developed the next generation of power Lithium Ion and delivered first prototypes. This work is funded by US Army TACOM and is continuation of US Air Force AFRL sponsored effort aimed at meeting the needs of both aircraft power as well as emerging Directed Energy applications. Ultra High Power (UHP) Li-ion cells offer unparalleled continuous and pulse power. Additionally the technology is capable of excellent charge acceptance and power delivery at low temperature. These specific characteristics could enable a floating on the bus aviation battery in the near future. The extreme pulse power capability coupled with limited heat generation make the technology a leading candidate for a Directed Energy intermediate energy storage power system.

Lithium ion batteries offer more power and longer cycle life than traditional technologies for many different applications. However, Li-ion batteries are new in the aviation applications and due to the lack of experience they are preventively removed from service before any problems may occur with the battery. This currently makes them unnecessarily expensive. A health diagnostic system needs to be developed and installed in the battery will show the state of health reducing maintenance costs. The purpose of this paper is to show Saft's approach to better understand cell aging through testing using reference electrodes. The aging of the cell anode and cathode will be analyzed under aircraft conditions to determine points of failure. The data acquired will then be used by Global Technology to create a prognostics health management (PHM) model for aviation.

Saft is working on advanced 28V Li-ion batteries for use in NAVY unmanned aircraft applications. This battery employs seven (7) prismatic state-of-the art Li-ion cells connected in series. The battery needs to be less than 40lbs in weight and 600 in3 in volume. This paper presents the performance results of the new prismatic cell. This development is pioneering new technological territories for SAFT since the PL55E cell is the first prismatic cell developed and delivered by SAFT America [1]. The experience gained will be useful and the PL55E cell will be followed by more prismatic cells added to the SAFT Li-ion portfolio. The presentation will give an overall status update of the technology as well as a brief overview of the complete 28V battery.