Conceptual Design of a Battery Pack for Use in a Mobile Hybridized Power Generation System

Mobile generation platforms are very common among both military and civilian applications. However, in military applications getting fuel to the front lines can come at a very high cost. This cost is both financial, costing upwards of hundreds of dollars a gallon, and human, with resupply convoys being the leading cause of casualties in today's warfront. Diesel generators operate much more efficiently at higher loads, rather than the lower loads that the systems normally operate at. To improve fuel efficiency, a hybridized generator system is proposed. This system combines a standard generator with a large rechargeable battery pack. The addition of the battery pack allows for several unique power scenarios to occur through power generation. The battery pack functions to provide an efficient storage capability for the system. During times of excess load, the battery and generator work together. This allows for algorithms to manage the generator set to operate at peak efficiency while addressing load spikes. A system like this has been theoretically designed and a simulation has been developed to determine the impact over a standard system. Actual load cycle information from military sources has been used to evaluate the concept. The results of the simulation show increase efficiency, in the low load scenarios, to more than double the standard generator efficiency.