Space Power Technology in Power Management and Distribution Electronics

摘要

Significant advancements in the development of lightweight, compact, reliable, and cost-effective electrical power system components are required to enable high-power designs of future generations of satellites. The goal of the U.S. Air Force Phillips Laboratory is to minimize the cost impact of high-power missions by reducing electrical power system mass to 10% of the satellite mass, thereby allowing the use of smaller launch vehicles. By designing payload power converters to operate at higher frequencies and incorporating state-of-the-art packaging techniques, the specific power of payload power converters will reach greater than 100 W/kg and 3 W/cm~3, with substantially increased radiation hardness. Operating these converters at higher input voltage (120 V) will significantly reduce harness mass for higher power missions. This same technology has also benefitted battery charging and discharging units, solar array power regulation devices, and switching and fault protection devices. Finally, high-temperature wide band gap devices were found to reduce the overall satellite mass by eliminating heaters for worst-case cold environment and by reducing the size of radiator components for hot environments.