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Results for “DC-DC converters”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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112 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2022

Projecting Power Converter Specific Power Through 2050 for Aerospace Applications

In order to analyze the potential fuel burn benefit from the electrification of aircraft powertrains, it is important to quantify the amount of weight that will be added to the aircraft for each additional component of the electric powertrain. This paper provides a projection of the specific power and efficiency of power converters, (AC-DC, DC-AC, or DC-DC), through the year 2050. Data was first collected on state of the art power converters in multiple application areas, creating a power converter database. Relevant specific powers were added to a set of historical data from 1976-2020, and then three different logistic curves were fit through the historical data to represent S-curve shaped growth through the year 2050. The three curves were differentiated by conservative, nominal, and aggressive assumptions for the year in which the logistic curve begins to bend down towards slower growth. With a 30% knockdown factor accounting for the additional weight required for a high altitude converter, projections range from the aggressive specific power projection of 52.9 kW/kg in 2050 to a much more conservative specific power of 12 kW/kg in which growth is limited due to certifiability concerns. Little historical data was found on converter efficiencies to project efficiency based on historical trends. Projections are based on expert opinion on yearly decreases in converter losses. 2050 projections range from 0.987 to 0.997.

fuel burn↗
NASA NTRS2022

Power Converter Design for the Europa Lander Motor Controller

This paper will outline the design and test results for the Europa Lander motor controller’s Power Conversion Slice. Europa Lander is a proposed NASA mission concept to send a stationary spacecraft to Jupiter’s Icy Moon, Europa, to search for subsurface biosignatures. The Power Conversion Card is one of the many technologies designed for this mission. The Power Conversion Card’s primary function is to convert the power supplied by the spacecraft battery to usable power for use within the motor controller. In addition, this card provides power system telemetry to the spacecraft computer. This card tolerates Europa’s harsh radiation environment within a protected vault to enable it to survive the external temperatures which can be as low as -184°C during the three-week mission. This design makes use of multiple commercially available radiation hardened electronics, including Cobham’s UT32M0R500 Arm Microcontroller along with VPT’s DC-DC Converters for power conversion. The microcontroller is used to collect local power system telemetry and assess card health autonomously without intervention from the spacecraft’s main computer. This paper will showcase the design behind the prototype and electrical testing results.

Lias, Malcolm↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Doppler Wind Temperature Sensor (DWTS) Flight Evaluation and Experiments (TES-16, 17)

The Doppler Wind and Temperature Sounder instrument (DWTS), developed by Global Atmospheric Technologies and Sciences (GATS), is a simple but powerful tool that has the potential to become a new window through which to study the dynamics of the upper atmosphere. Based around a defense-grade infrared camera peering through a static gas cell used as a scanning spectral filter, the DWTS instrument infers wind velocities and kinetic temperatures through the stratosphere and lower thermosphere. The DWTS achieves this scanning by measuring the induced Doppler shift and Doppler broadening of emissions as they pass through the DWTS field of view (Gordley, et al., 2011). The DWTS holds promise in improving accuracy in weather determination , and the core technology can be adapted to study other planetary atmospheres. In partnership with GATS, NOAA, and other collaborators, NASA Ames and the Nano Orbital Workshop group have been working to evaluate the DWTS instrument on orbit and optimize it as a flexible nanosatellite payload. The first mission selected for DWTS evaluation is preparing for flight in early 2024, which will be followed by a more capable science mission in 2025, with both missions being part of the TES-n/NOW heritage flight series. The first rapid technology demonstration flight, TES-16/DWTS-A, will demonstrate a single DWTS instrument in an approximately 2U payload volume with the imaging aperture perpendicular to the flight velocity vector. With an estimated power consumption of 50 watts, supplied via a custom NOW-designed DC-DC converter, the instrument will maintain the imaging sensor plane at 80K during instrument evaluation periods using an integrated pulse-tube cryocooler. Data from DWTS will be captured and processed via a NOW-designed custom data interface unit before being transmitted via S-band radio back to select ground stations, with instrument command and control operated via L-band global-coverage radio. The subsequent TES-17/DWTS-B mission will be a dedicated science mission to obtain full altitude coverage from 20 to 200 km during both day and night, all from a single small-satellite equipped with three DWTS instruments, each hosting a different gas cell chemistry. The intention of this flight series, and one of NASA’s interests in this instrument, is to advance a Martian atmospheric instrument (Colaprete, Gordley, et al) which, if successful, would greatly further understanding of Martian atmospheric behavior. The proposed paper will review the flight series in detail, including challenges facing the TES-16 flight tests and the projected challenges and application to Mars study. Additional detail regarding the possible applications of a Cognitive Communication technique in current flight development by NOW collaborators at the NASA Glenn Research Center will also be discussed, including the implications of using an automated User Initiated Service (UIS) protocol to maximize the data collected per orbit.

nanosatellite↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Thermal-Fluid Analysis of a Liquid-Cooled Battery Module for Electrified Aircraft

The development of safe, energy-dense batteries is critical to advancing hybrid electric and fully electrified aircraft propulsion. Achieving this capability requires a thermal management system that can maintain battery performance and safety under demanding operational conditions. The objective of this project is to support the maturation of next-generation lithium-ion batteries for electrified aircraft by conducting performance testing on integrated battery modules, specifically a 2-cell series configuration module housed within an aluminum enclosure. Designed to operate at a nominal 7.2 V with discharge rates up to 2.5C, the module will eventually be used to power an electric motor and DC-DC converter, generating substantial thermal loads that must be effectively managed to increase the usable energy and power density of electrified aircraft. To address these thermal challenges, this study presents the development and thermal-fluid analysis of a liquid-cooled thermal management system. While the full aircraft architecture utilizes an eight-string configuration, the present work evaluates a representative single-string water coolant loop to characterize baseline performance. The active cooling loop circulates water through a reservoir, pump, the battery module, and a variable area flow meter. Key performance metrics including component-level temperatures, mass flow rates, and pressure drops are quantified across the loop. Across discharge rates ranging from 0.5C to 2.5C, the active thermal loop consistently and effectively removed heat from the module, validating the design approach and confirming readiness for further development. The validated thermal performance indicates a path toward scalable battery modules that could enable energy and power dense systems for hybrid electric aircraft.

Electrified Aircraft↗