Now boarding the flight to the future, flying lower emissions Ampaire hybrid-electric planes
Ampaire is developing hybrid-electric aircraft that will lead the industry to an all-electric future with net-zero emissions and a greener future
Unmanned aircraft for communications
This class of UAV depends on solar power to meet its long flight time requirements. Solar power systems rely on the use of maximum power-point tracking (MPPT) circuitry to ensure that solar energy is harvested at the optimum voltage before conversion to a voltage suitable for charging a secondary battery, or delivery to the power systems intermediate bus network. As this class of UAVs develops, high-efficiency power-conversion topologies such as zero-voltage switching and zero-current switching (ZVS/ZCS) which are used in Vicor BCMs are important to enable the widening variety of fuel sources and applications with increasing power challenges.
The power delivery network
A combination of the BCM6123 providing the isolated conversion of the 350V to a 48V intermediate bus and the PI3741 ZVS Buck-Boost regulator with a very wide range input voltage operating capability provides a tightly regulated 28V output for various UAV loads.
Fixed ratio DC-DC converter
Input: 260 – 410V
Output: 32.5 – 51.3V
Current: Up to 25.7A
63.3 x 22.8 x 7.2mm
Input: 8 – 60V
Output: 10 – 54V
Power: Up to 150W continuous
Efficiency: Over 98%
10.5 x 14.5 x 3.05mm
Resources
Resources for the design engineer
How is Dragonfly’s new hover-in-place tethered UAV defying maritime communication limits?
DPI tethered UAV lifts communication antennas up to 500+ feet and can increase line of site communication at sea 3x, from 8 to nearly 30 miles
Where fixed-ratio converters fit in high-power delivery systems
The density and efficiency of a fixed-ratio converter plays a critical role in enabling PDN architecture to deliver high performance
Life-saving tethered drones get a power and comms boost
The initial DC-DC converter design was heavy & consumed too much space. The lightweight DCM by Vicor provided the ideal power & weight for the application