Abstract :
Advances in materials, controls, packaging, thermal management have played a significant role in improving efficiencies, power density, availability of power, and other desirable metrics in electric power systems. The US Navy, leveraging these advances, and in cooperation with industry, is developing the necessary architectures and modular building blocks, or pieces, consisting of power generation, power conversion, energy storage, power distribution, and power load modules. These pieces each add their own contribution to the system or architecture that they fit into, to comprise the system. Their construct also allows for tech insertion as technology matures and requirements change. Such applications as Hybrid Electric Drive (HED) focused on reducing fuel consumption, and dependency upon fossil fuel, benefit from this modular; puzzle piece approach and will be described herein. Further, it is the architecture, or backbone, or Next Generation Integrated Power System (NGIPS) as referred to by the Navy, which must first be established, derisked, and matured in order to enable the common set of modules to be installed that lead to the delivery and employment of an affordable, highly efficient, power dense and reliable navy platform known as the electric warship. However, NGIPS is not only about technology, it´s also about how we design, acquire, and provide in-service support to the power systems. This process is the Open Architecture Business Model. This presentation describes 1) the NGIPS Technology Development Roadmap, 2) Open Architecture Business Model, 3) Technologies that are being currently developed and considered for potential mid and far term module insertion, and 4) An example application that employs the modules to support HED focused on reducing fuel consumption and dependency upon fossil fuel.
