Affordable DC Emulator

As the demand for direct current (DC) energy sources and loads rises with the future of grid and transportation electric power systems, the need for reliable DC supplies and test equipment also grows. PCKA’s proposed technology leverages Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) devices to develop a portable, Affordable Direct Current Emulator (ADCE) with state-of-the-art power control bandwidth and support for high-speed, low-latency digital communications that enable advanced source and load emulation with real-time computing assets.  Such capability will enable US Government agencies, their associated contractors, and commercial enterprises to perform experiments with greater accuracy, reliability, and flexibility, enhancing experiment performance and simplifying setup. The final demonstration will highlight the ADCE's ability to emulate behaviors observed in Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) tools, facilitating advanced system integration efforts with complex power systems such as those found in next generation military and space platforms.  The proposed ADCE design specially addresses several gaps and limitations found in currently available COTS DCEs, as detailed in the proposal.