WECOSO, INC. — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase I: S16

Description

West Coast Solutions (WCS) and Sunpower, Inc. propose the development of a space-rated electronic controller for the Sunpower Robust Stirling Convertor (SRSC) in response to Topic S16.02 Dynamic and Solid-State Power Conversion. This controller will be called the Stirling Convertor Space Controller (SCSC). The effort will be led by WCS, who brings a proven track record developing and delivering space-rated controllers for Stirling cryocoolers, and many other space-flight applications. WCS has teamed with Sunpower, the industry leader in the design and build of highly efficient and reliable space-rated Stirling convertors. The strong WCS-Sunpower Team will close the gap on bringing Stirling convertor technology to space launch maturity with the development of this enabling SCSC technology.A significant impediment to deploying the SRSC in space is the lack of a radiation hard, space-rated electronic controller. WCS addresses this impediment in Phase I with the development of a flight-design controller circuit, fully compatible with the intended radiation environments. The starting point for the design is the Sunpower ldquo;Kilopowerrdquo; Stirling convertor controller, a lab-based design which was developed under NASArsquo;s Game Changing Development Program under the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), which has been shown to effectively control the SRSC prototype.nbsp; With the support of Sunpower, WCS will convert the Kilopower Stirling Convertor Controller to a space-rated design targeting gt; 300 krad (Si) total ionizing dose (TID) hardness at the module level.nbsp;