20 kW High Temperature (300+ °C), Rad-Hard Silicon Carbide (SiC) DC/DC Power Converters

In this Small Business Innovation Research project, APEI, Inc. and TRS Technologies are partnering to develop rad-hard high density DC/DC power converters functional to temperatures in excess of 300 ºC. Expert utilization of the now emerging silicon carbide (SiC) power devices will allow for high efficiency and high junction temperature operation, leading to increased power density, reduced thermal sink mass, reduced system size and weight, and improved modularity. This will of course lead to significant savings in launch costs, greater platform payload capacities, improved system performance, and improved reliability. APEI, Inc. will prove the feasibility of the design approach through the high-temperature 300 ºC hardware demonstration of a complete 1000 watt SiC DC/DC converter at the conclusion of Phase I of the program. In particular, by the conclusion of Phase II of this program, APEI, Inc. will develop high-temperature, high power (up to 20kW) SiC DC/DC converters with the flexibility to operate in a number of military and aerospace platforms. The power converters will be fully integrated and modularized, operate at junction temperatures in excess of 300 ºC, operate at frequencies greater than 250 kHz, and operate at power densities greater than 150 W/kg. APEI, Inc. will build upon its high-temperature SiC power electronics expertise to push the state-of-the-art systems, as required by these Air Force applications.