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Testing of the Engineering Model Electrical Power Control Unit for the Fluids and Combustion FacilityThe John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field (GRC) in Cleveland, OH and the Sundstrand Corporation in Rockford, IL have designed and developed an Engineering Model (EM) Electrical Power Control Unit (EPCU) for the Fluids Combustion Facility, (FCF) experiments to be flown on the International Space Station (ISS). The EPCU will be used as the power interface to the ISS power distribution system for the FCF's space experiments'test and telemetry hardware. Furthermore. it is proposed to be the common power interface for all experiments. The EPCU is a three kilowatt 12OVdc-to-28Vdc converter utilizing three independent Power Converter Units (PCUs), each rated at 1kWe (36Adc @ 28Vdc) which are paralleled and synchronized. Each converter may be fed from one of two ISS power channels. The 28Vdc loads are connected to the EPCU output via 48 solid-state and current-limiting switches, rated at 4Adc each. These switches may be paralleled to supply any given load up to the 108Adc normal operational limit of the paralleled converters. The EPCU was designed in this manner to maximize allocated-power utilization. to shed loads autonomously, to provide fault tolerance. and to provide a flexible power converter and control module to meet various ISS load demands. Tests of the EPCU in the Power Systems Facility testbed at GRC reveal that the overall converted-power efficiency, is approximately 89% with a nominal-input voltage of 12OVdc and a total load in the range of 4O% to 110% rated 28Vdc load. (The PCUs alone have an efficiency of approximately 94.5%). Furthermore, the EM unit passed all flight-qualification level (and beyond) vibration tests, passed ISS EMI (conducted, radiated. and susceptibility) requirements. successfully operated for extended periods in a thermal/vacuum chamber, was integrated with a proto-flight experiment and passed all stability and functional requirements.
Document ID
20000024922
Acquisition Source
Glenn Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Kimnach, Greg L. (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)
Lebron, Ramon C. (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)
Fox, David A. (Sundstrand Aerospace Rockford, IL United States)
Date Acquired
September 7, 2013
Publication Date
December 1, 1999
Subject Category
Spacecraft Propulsion And Power
Report/Patent Number
NAS 1.15:209637
NASA/TM-1999-209637
E-11967
Meeting Information
Meeting: Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Country: Canada
Start Date: August 2, 1997
End Date: August 6, 1997
Sponsors: Society of Automotive Engineers
Funding Number(s)
PROJECT: RTOP 398-20-0C
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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