Advanced Power Distribution System

The proposed Advanced Power Distribution System (APDS) utilizes a flexible architecture built upon a common high voltage DC bus and includes a family of standardized, interchangeable DC/DC and DC/AC converters. The system uses hot-swappable, unregulated80-630 VDC power from the electric ground equipment to provide standard, 28 VDC, 270 VDC and 115/200 VAC, 60/400 Hz high quality ground power to operate aircraft systems during pre-and post-flight, and maintenance operations.The proposed work draws upon SatCon Applied Technology work on high density, modular power distribution and power conversion systems for military and industrial applications, particularly Power Conversion Modules developed for the US Navy under IntegratedPower System Program, Automotive Integrated Power Module (AIPM) technology developed under the US Department Of Energy grant, Battery Power Converter for RST-V scout vehicle, DCX DC/DC converter for a hybrid electric passenger car, and SatCon's work onresidential fuel cell distributed power systems.The Phase I effort will develop a preliminary design of an APDS to satisfy USAF and other DOD and commercial customer requirements. Detailed design and a hardware demonstration prototype are planned for Phase II. This Phase I effort will result in a rugged, cost-effective system architecture, electrical design, and packaging approach for a modular power conversion system to provide high-quality power to the aircraft from a variety of DC power sources includinghybrid electric service vehicles. A technology demonstration prototype will be designed and built during a Phase II effort. Further, a production-ready design and manufacturing capabilities will be developed to produce these modular systems for themilitary and civilian airports as well as other distributed power applications, which require clean DC and AC power.