High Efficiency Multi-Mode Power Processing Units for Hall Effect Thrusters

The Department of Defense and NASA are developing high power electric thrusters having high specific impulse for satellite station keeping and long, deep space flights. Light weight, spaceflight-capable power supplies are needed for these thrusters, but their development has lagged. The challenges are that the thruster power supply must have high efficiency, be thermally managed under extreme temperature ranges, must be operational for long periods of time, and must be hardened for high radiation. The Air Force desires a thruster power supply of 10 kW with a weight of less than 3 kg/kW, and efficiency over 94%. In Phase I, DTI developed and evaluated a new power supply design based upon DTI’s multi-phase buck regulator technology. This fault-tolerant power supply is substantially more efficient, lighter, and reliable than existing designs. In Phase II, DTI will refine the design developed in Phase I, and build a prototype unit for delivery to the Air Force to provide at least 10 kW of power, at high efficiency, and at significantly reduced size and weight. We will also begin qualifying the design to support future space missions in Phase III. BENEFIT: There are two classes of benefits from this proposed effort. The first, is the ability to build lighter, smaller, higher power supplies for spacecraft electric thrusters. Future spaceflights and satellite mission-keeping opoerations will be significantly enhanced by the fielding of these thrusters, which require the power converter developed in this SBIR. Second, the substantial increase in hybrid and bttery power systems throughout the industrial, automotive, and commercial markets opens a major opportunity for power converters capable of transforming low voltage power into higher voltages to drive motors and transmitter that operate at hundreds or thousands of volts, rather than the tens of volts provided by most battery systems. Compact, efficient, and reliable converters offer an ideal means to address these growing classes of applications.