Case study: C5ISR armored vehicle battery charger

C5ISR battery charger provides kilowatts of power in harsh environments

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Customer’s challenge

Charging stations outside vehicles provide personnel immediate access to critical electronic equipment. This presents significant challenges: electronics must function reliably in harsh environmental conditions and the power solution must simultaneously recharge multiple devices at a high-power level (8kW) within limited physical space while managing a wide input voltage range from the rectified 3-phase generator. The key challenges were:

Perform with available space without impacting weight
Effectively manage kilowatts of power and different input ranges
Deliver consistently reliable operation under extreme operational stressess

The Vicor solution

Vicor high-performance power modules offer a robust solution for external vehicle charging stations. These high-power density modules deliver kilowatts of power in a small space, preserving vehicle space. Their ruggedized and thermally adept packaging ensures reliable operation under extreme conditions, meeting stringent standards like MIL-STD-810. They efficiently handle voltage variations from the vehicle’s generator, providing a consistent power supply and enabling simultaneous, high-power charging of multiple devices. The key benefits were:

主な利点

A compact power solution that provides kilowatts of power

Rugged and reliable modules that withstand the external environment

Wide input range to handle variations in voltage

電力供給ネットワーク

The demanding vehicle application achieves high output power (8kW) from a parallel configuration of eighteen highly efficient DCM™ DC-DC converter moduless. These converters, housed in thermally-adept ChiP packaging for optimal cooling, offer a wide input voltage range to accommodate fluctuating vehicle power sources. Their unique design enables simple paralleling without output derating, effectively acting as a single high-current source. MFM™ DCM filters are DC front-end modules used in conjunction with DCMs and provide EMI filtering and transient protection to meet MIL standards.