GE Aviation wins Army contract to develop SiC power chips
GE Aviation has been awarded a $2.1 million contract from the US Army to develop and demonstrate SiC-based power electronics supporting high-voltage next generation ground vehicle electrical power architecture.
"The US Army's implementation of SiC technology for high voltage, more electric ground vehicles, facilitates significant improvements in size, weight and power for high temperature applications," said Vic Bonneau, president of Electrical Power Systems for GE Aviation. "We have multiple SiC based power conversion products in development and continue to invest in this area. Successes to date have led to this new application that will enable the US Army to better manage on-board power and simplify the vehicle cooling architecture. Ultimately, this product will increase mission capability for the warfighter."
The $2.1 million contract consists of an 18-month development program to demonstrate the benefits of GE's SiC MOSFET technology combined with GaN devices in a 15 kW, 28VDC/600VDC Bi-directional Converter. The hardware is expected to provide twice the power in less than 50 percent of the volume of present silicon-based power electronics. In addition, the converters will be able to operate in parallel and be CANbus programmable.
The contract is in support of the US ARMY's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) next generation vehicle electrical power architecture leap-ahead technology development. It will result in a technology demonstration in mid-2017.
DCS Corporation is the contracting agent for US Army TARDEC. DCS develops advanced technology solutions and provides acquisition management expertise for US Army aviation, ground vehicle, soldier systems and missile systems.
GE's Global Research Centre is developing SiC MOSFET technology across multiple industries including aviation, healthcare and energy in particular.
