Raytheon Company has been awarded two Phase 2 contracts under the Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) Compact Power Conversion Technologies (CPCT) program. The program aims to deliver better fuel economy and architectural flexibility for critical mission systems on future surface ships and submarines.
“As the U.S. Navy develops the platforms and mission systems that ready our warfighters for requirements of the future, there’s an increasing need to provide more efficient and more capable power systems,” said Joe Biondi, vice president of Advanced Technology for Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems business . “ Our continued power technology innovation supports our customers’ long-term goals and ensures warfighters can leverage the most advanced technologies possible.”
Bi-Directional Power Converter and Power Management Controller
The BDPC initiative develops high density and efficiency power converters that enable new, more energy efficient ship power system architectures. The modular, flexible BDPC interfaces with high power radar, energy storage, pulsed loads and motor drives. The BDPC reduces the total cost of ownership by reducing weight and volume by a factor of three, while achieving efficiency of 96-98 percent. In addition, the BDPC can provide power for multiple classes of ships and ensures graceful degradation by providing both built-in spares and redundancy.
The power management controller enables a new generation of intelligent shipboard power control by optimizing performance across various systems. For example, the system can balance planned and unplanned pulse power loads by intelligently using all components in the power system. In addition, this capability can provide higher performance with an existing power system or minimize the equipment required when designing a new system. With such capabilities in place, ships might no longer require discrete energy storage for separate systems; power would be collectively stored, shared and distributed as required for a given mission.
These one-year programs for a Bi-Directional Power Converter and a Power Management Controller extend Raytheon’s recent success in developing next-generation power technologies for naval systems. They will help to reduce critical footprint and manning on future naval platforms.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, October 11, 2012; Image: ONR