High Temperature Electronics for Spacecraft Power Management and Distribution

High temperature and radiation-hardened electronics will benefit Power Management and Distribution in a spacecraft by saving space, weight and power that would otherwise be needed for heat extraction and shielding. Orbital Research Inc. proposes the development of one or more high temperature DC – DC Converters for use in future spacecraft designs - that will consist of the following: A single ASIC chip, a custom transformer designed with high temperature materials, and high temperature capacitors resistors and pcb substrates. The Phase I effort will be primarily to collect data on existing DC – DC converters in spacecraft, and analyze the potential increase in power density by replacing low temperature circuits with high temperature substitutes. Following the identification of optimal high temperature substitutes, Orbital Research Inc. will design a DC – DC converter, using a custom-designed transformer which will serve as a high temperature replacement for most, if not all, of the existing DC –DC converters that are presently in use in various spacecraft. Phase II will take the designed circuit and build a breadboard for testing. The critical test parameter is power density >70W/kg.