A COMPACT LIGHTWEIGHT AND RUGGED VOLTAGE MULTIPLIED HOMOPOLAR GENERATOR FOR RELIABLE HIGH SPEED ...

AS ELECTRONICS BECOME SMALLER THROUGH MINIATURIZATION, THE ABILITY TO FLY ELECTRONIC PACKAGES OVER LARGE DISTANCES IS BECOMING MORE LIMITED BY THE LACK OF GENERATORS DESIGNED TO OPERATE IN THE LOW POWER, HIGH RPM RANGE. IN RESPONSE TO THIS PROBLEM, A PROGRAM TO DEVELOP A VOLTAGE MULTIPLIED HOMOPOLAR GENERATOR (VMHPG) IS PROPOSED. THE SYSTEM IS BASED ON THE WELL KNOWN HOMOPOLAR GENERATOR PRINCIPLE AND FEATURES A UNIQUE VOLTAGE MULTIPLYING ARMATURE MAKING THE DESIGN SIMPLE, COMPACT, AND LIGHTWEIGHT SUCH THAT IT IS WELL SUITED FOR THE DARPA APPLICATION. THE VMHPG CONSISTS OF A THIN ROTATING DISK ARMATURE IMMERSED IN A MULTIPOLE MAGNET STRUCTURE. REVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENTS IN PERMANENT MAGNET TECHNOLOGY HAVE MADE IT POSSIBLE TO DEVELOP AN EFFECTIVE REPLACEMENT FOR THE BULKY FIELD COILS FOUND IN STANDARD GENERATORS, AND THROUGH PROPER SELECTION OF GEOMETRY, IMPROVED POWER DENSITIES ARE ATTAINABLE. THE PROPOSED DESIGN OFFERS EXTREMELY LOW GYROSCOPIC EFFECTS WHILE PROVIDING INCREASING POWER DENSITIES AT HIGHER RPMS. IN ADDITION, SINCE THE DESIGN IS BASED ON THE CONVENTIONAL HOMOPOLAR GENERATOR CONCEPT, THE FINAL PRODUCT WILL BE A SIMPLE, RUGGED ASSEMBLY THAT CAN BE MASS PRODUCED AT LOW COST. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EFFICIENT ELECTROMECHANICAL POWER SUPPLY DESIGNED FOR THE HIGHER RPM RANGE WILL EXTEND THE OPTIONS FOR POWERING ELECTRONIC PACKAGES ON SMALL FLIGHT VEHICLES CURRENTLY LIMITED BY BULKY BATTERY PACKS. A PROGRAM TO DEVELOP A VOLTAGE MULTIPLIED HOMOPOLAR GENERATOR DESIGNED TO SATISFY THE DARPA APPLICATION WILL CAPTURE A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE PORTABLE GENERATOR MARKET INCLUDING THE AUTOMOTIVE SECTOR. KEY WORDS - ELECTROMECHANICAL, PORTABLE, ELECTRICAL GENERATOR, POWER SUPPLIES, HOMOPOLAR GENERATOR