NNC07CA12C – Wide Output Range Power Processing Unit for Electric Propulsion

CPE has developed wide-range multi-phase resonant converters than can deliver full power over a 5:1 output voltage range. This enables Hall thrusters to be operated with high thrust at low output voltages or high specific impulse at high operating voltages.

The 4kW discharge module has a specific power of 0.564 kW/kg. In addition, CPE has also developed a 10kW power processing unit with 0.91 kW/kg specific power and a peak efficiency 97.9%.

CPE resonant converters have low voltages across the power semiconductors. This greatly reduces the probability of single-event failures. The converters are suitable for a variety of aerospace applications including electric propulsion.

In 2015, operation of the Gas Flow PPU was successfully demonstrated at NASA GRC’s testing facility, confirming that it has reached Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5. In 2016, NASA GRC and CPE presented “Performance of a High-Fidelity 4kW-Class Engineering Model PPU and Integration with HiVHAc System” to the 52nd AIAA/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, documenting their findings and conclusions.

2020 marked build completion of the next stage of development – a PPU manufactured with a target qualification to TRL-6. In November 2021, this unit began functional testing at the EPP lab at NASA GRC.

Module full-power output operating ranges of the HETPPU unit

PPU Module	Output Voltage (DC)	Output Current (A)	Output Power (W)	Additional Features
Keeper/Ignition	0 to 40V	1A to 2A	80W	300V, 10Hz ignition pulser
Heater	0 to 15V	3.5A to 20A	200W
Inner Magnet	0 to 20V	1 to 7.5A	108W	Polarity Reversing Relay
Outer Magnet	0 to 20V	1 to 7.5A	108W	Polarity Reversing Relay
Discharge/Anode	200 to 700V	1.4 to 15A	4,500W	Continuous max power output from 300V to 700V Peak Efficiency: > 94% @ 140Vin > 95.8% @ 68Vin
Input Voltage Range	68 to 140V
Weight	16.8kg
Communication Interface				MIL-STD-1553