DIVERSIFIED TECHNOLOGIES, INC. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N171-075

Description

Submarines have two independent electrical generators to provide continuous power to critical loads. These generators are not coordinated nor synchronized, so switching between them can cause a brief power interruption to the loads. Conventional uninterruptible power supplies can maintain power to critical loads during this switching, but they are much larger and heavier than required, since they are designed to operate for minutes at a time. A small, short-duration supply tailored to this switch-over requirement could replace these conventional supplies, freeing up substantial amounts of space and weight for other capability improvements.<br>Diversified Technologies, Inc. (DTI) proposes to design, build, qualify, and field a short-duration Power Bridge Converter (PBC) meeting the size, power, power-quality, and reliability required for submarine deployment. The system will provide 40 kW of power during a 100 millisecond interruption. It will also limit the inrush current upon reapplication of power, as required by MIL-STD-1399/300B. Our proposed PBC design uses commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components, and can be built from parts that are available today. Keys to the PCBs performance are the high-reliability electrolytic capacitors for energy storage, the circuit architecture, silicon carbide switching transistors, the EMI filter design, and switches that limit inrush current.