TPL, Inc. Receives $2.2M ONR Contract for Rail Gun Capacitors
November 2007
TPL, Inc. is a materials science-based technology development and manufacturing company, a technologies-to-products leader based in
The TPL Polymer/Paper film capacitor technology is directed at the electrical energy storage for electromagnetic (EM) rail guns planned for deployment on the Navy’s new destroyer, designated the DDG-1000 Zumwalt class. These guns will deliver substantially higher muzzle energy and range compared to conventional guns; further, their use of electrical energy to launch projectiles eliminates on-board storage of chemical-based propellants i.e. gun powder, a major safety and logistical issue. Viable deployment of EM rail guns, however, requires the electrical energy storage medium be sufficiently compact to fit within the volume constraints of the DDX vessel design. TPL’s Polymer/Paper film capacitor technology will meet this requirement.
The achievable energy density is three times that of current capacitors; for the Navy rail gun under development, this technology will exceed the 2.5 J/cc minimum energy storage density requirement for the target DDX platform. These capacitors afford the rail gun designer use of well established methods for switching and control, and the Navy vessel designer greater flexibility in physical positioning, compared to competing energy storage solutions.
All DoD branches have a significant need for increased energy storage density in advanced electromagnetic offensive and defensive systems. High energy density capacitor technology will also enable mobile deployment of related electro-magnetic weapon systems including coil guns, active armor, and missile and aircraft launchers. In each case, the energy storage density is a critical aspect for viable deployment.
TPL has now received $2.2 million from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to continue the development of this promising technology. These funds will be employed to complete the manufacturing scale-up of this technology and to fabricate prototype capacitor modules for evaluation by the Navy. Congresswoman Heather Wilson, who understands the considerable need for this technology, was responsible for obtaining the additional support from Congress for the continuation of this effort.
For more information on this technology or TPL, Inc. please contact Sales@tplinc.com.
TPL, Inc. Awarded Phase II for Ultrasonication
TPL was awarded a Phase II Proposal, entitled "Separation of Fragmented Energetic Materials via Directed Ultrasonic Energy". Due to environmental issues, community concerns, and economic costs, previously acceptable methods of demilitarization are generally no longer appropriate; better methods of munitions disposal must be developed. To address this problem, TPL proposes using an ultrasonic probe to fracture and removal of polymer-bonded explosives from shells in a remote operation. The program will focus on minimizing hazardous wastes and operations hazards. Pilot plant scale operations will be developed to remotely remove explosive directly from shells. Separation techniques will be developed for integration of the entire process.
TPL is active in numerous areas of energetic material research and is known for formulation and full-scale chemical process development primarily for demilitarization activities for the Army, Navy, Air Force and MDA. For furtherinformation please contact Catherine Malins.
TPL, Inc. Sells TPL Microelectronics, Inc.'s Assets
March 2007
TPL, Inc. has sold its San Diego based TPL Microelectronics, Inc.’s (TMI) assets to American Function Materials, Inc. (AFM) located in Alhambra, CA. AFM will continue with the same personnel, equipment and processes as TMI employed. AFM will continue to produce the same product line as TMI and add additional products to its business. For further information please contact either Trista Mosman of TMI or William Liang of AFM.
TPL, Inc. Awarded Pretreatment Gold Award
February 2007
The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority Water Reclamation Division awarded TPL, Inc (Albuquerque), a Pretreatment Gold Award for Wastewater Discharge. This is the first Gold Award TPL, Inc has received. The Industrial Pretreatment Program for the last 13 years has presented an annual award to each permit holder that has demonstrated an exceptional level of compliance with the requirements of their discharge permit. Gold Pretreatment Awards are given to permit holders for operation of an active pretreatment system, 100% compliance with the reporting requirements of their permit and 100% compliance with their permit discharge limits.
A complete list of award winners was published in the Albuquerque Journal Business Outlook on 29 Jan 2007.
For TPL Albuquerque the Wastewater Discharge permit applies to the operations involved in ceramic powder production, and this award is directly the result of efforts by Dave Christopher to minimize by pretreatment the discharge of hazardous materials to the wastewater system. Congratulations to Dave Christopher for his engineering efforts to safeguard our city’s wastewater treatment system.
TPL, Inc. is awarded a Phase I from the Department of Homeland Security for EnerPak
TPL wins Phase I from The Department of Homeland Security for their EnerPak, an Innovative Power Solution for Advanced Unattended Ground Sensors. TPL will demonstrate the feasibility of its EnerPak power solution for use in unattended ground sensors (UGS) for border security. The EnerPak combines energy harvesting technology with miniaturized electrochemical storage devices to provide a hybrid power source for sensors deployed in remote locations. TPL’s solution uniquely meets the needs of border security UGS and delivers long life (at least 5 years), low cost (<$20 per node), and small size (approximately the size of two standard AA cells). The EnerPak is well suited for use with COTS, ZigBee-compatible wireless sensor nodes, which provide an excellent approach for border control UGS. ZigBee nodes form a mesh network configuration, allowing data to be transmitted node-to-node over great distances with high reliability. Furthermore, in a mesh network consisting of a large number of nodes, many sensors detect a single event eliminating the potential that an intruder can evade detection. Moreover, fusion of data from multiple sensors can reduce the false alarm rate and simultaneously be used to calculate the trajectory of the intruder. In the Phase I effort, the power supply concept will be demonstrated using a COTS, ZigBee-compatible wireless sensor node configured to detect acoustic signals.
TPL, Inc. Names Two New Vice Presidents
January 2007
Rick A. Snow was named Vice President of Defense Systems. The Defense Systems Division is a leader in demilitarization technology, primarily the development of energetic materials resource recovery and reuse processing while developing other energetic material based technologies to enhance warfighter capabilities. Snow has over 20 years in the government and industry weapons acquisition, development and production. He is a certified government program manager and has work experience in U.S. Army laboratory as the TACOM-ARDEC ASCO Fire Support Team Leader, JTACMS Program Office and as the DA Systems Coordinator for the MLRS and ATACMS. For the last 12 years Mr. Snow has worked in industry as a Senior Program Manager for CMS/OTI where he directed the development, qualification and production of missile warheads such as the Hellfire, Javelin, Dragon and Patriot warheads. Concurrently, he directed the corporate IR&D programs to incorporate increased lethality concepts, insensitive munitions and more producible designs. Recently, he worked as the Program Manager on development of Composite Reinforced Ceramic Technology (CRCT) gun barrels to successfully demonstrate the utility and function of ceramic barrels to reduce weight and extend effective barrel life in high rates of fire automatic weapons.
Dr. Charles D.E. Lakeman was named Vice President of Micropower Systems. The Micropower Division is developing endless power systems for wireless sensors combining energy harvesting with custom designed energy storage systems based on micro-batteries and micro-supercapacitors. Dr. Lakeman earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree with Honours in Ceramic Science and Engineering from the University of Leeds, UK (1988). He earned his MS (1991) and a and his Ph.D. (1994) in Materials Science, both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He completed a post-doctoral appointment at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and was then employed by Texas Instruments (TI) transferring ferroelectric thin film technology from Sandia National Laboratories to TI’s R&D group in Dallas, TX, until he joined TPL in March 1998. He has been instrumental in creating and leading TPL’s micropower program, which has been funded through SBIR and other contracts since January 2002. He has earned three patents including two on microbatteries and microsupercapacitors and the other on his work with TI. He has written over 20 papers, has four further patent applications pending on micropower systems and components, and has given numerous invited and contributed presentations on chemical processing and properties of ceramic thin films, microfabrication and micropower.
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