SBIR-STTR Award

High Power Density, and Efficient on Board Auxiliary Power Generation System
Award last edited on: 4/7/2010

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
DOD : Army
Total Award Amount
$1,448,985
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
A05-129
Principal Investigator
Zaher Daboussi

Company Information

AeroVironment Inc (AKA: AV Dynamics Inc~AV Inc~Aero-vironment Inc)

241 18th Street South # 415
Arlington, VA 22202
   (703) 418-2828
   N/A
   www.aerovironment.com
Location: Multiple
Congr. District: 08
County: Arlington

Phase I

Contract Number: ----------
Start Date: ----    Completed: ----
Phase I year
2006
Phase I Amount
$119,887
Power generation at remote locations is increasingly important to provide support for logistic and combat operations. The traditional genset driven by a diesel engine, however, is bulky, not highly efficient, and requires non-trivial maintenance. In addition, the power quality that these traditional gensets supply is not sufficient for many field applications. Thus, a compact, yet high efficiency auxiliary power generation system integral to the tracked or wheeled military vehicle, at the 4 kW power level, is an essential new component to aid the warfighter. This advanced generator and power control unit makes use of direct cooled lamination paramagnet magnet motor technology and a proprietary interphase transformer technique using sub-phases controlled by a digital signal processor. The proposed Phase I effort will investigate the feasibility of developing such on-board auxiliary power generation system. The advanced on-board auxiliary power generation system (APGS) will have a higher efficiency, lower harmonic distortion, lower electromagnetic interference, in addition to the greatly lower volume and weight advantages. AeroVironment will overcome the many technical challenges leveraging experience from recent generator, inverter, and digital control development projects

Phase II

Contract Number: ----------
Start Date: ----    Completed: ----
Phase II year
2006
Phase II Amount
$1,329,098
Power generation at remote locations is increasingly important in providing support for logistic and combat operations. The traditional genset driven by a diesel engine, however, is bulky, not highly efficient, and requires non-trivial maintenance. In addition, the power quality that these traditional gensets supply is not sufficient for many field applications. Thus, a compact, yet high efficiency auxiliary power generation system (APGS) integral to the tracked or wheeled military vehicle, at the 4 kW power level, is an essential new component to aid the warfighter. This advanced generator and power control unit makes use of direct-cooled lamination permanent magnet motor technology and a proprietary interphase transformer technique using sub-phases controlled by a digital signal processor. The flexibility of power output of 24VDC, 270VDC, and 120VAC, makes this device especially valuable for a number of field applications. The proposed Phase II effort will develop an advanced on-board (APGS) that will have a higher efficiency, lower harmonic distortion, lower electromagnetic interference, in addition to the greatly lower volume and weight advantages when compared to current generators. AeroVironment will build on our Phase I work, which demonstrated feasibility, and tackle these challenges using our extensive generator, inverter, and digital control experience.

Keywords:
POWER GENERATION, APU, POWER ELECTRONICS, HIGH POWER DENSIT