The new generation of, high performance electric propulsion missions will require high mass throughput and most likely the use of grided ion thruster equipped with carbon based grids will be required to meet the extremely high life requirements. However, because of the high susceptibility of these… More

Our phase 1 study has revealed many significant benefits of a new class of DC-to-DC power converters with performance that cannot be matched by current flight power systems. The goal of low stored energy has been demonstrated while producing a record-breaking efficiency of 95.5%. This new converter… More

Hall thrusters can be operated over a wide range of specific impulse while maintaining high efficiency. However S/C power system constraints on electric propulsion systems often force a choice of maximum power operation over a narrow range of specific impulse and thrust. Most spacecraft users… More

A low-cost, standardized-architecture power system is proposed for NASA electric propulsion (EP) applications. Three approaches are combined to develop a system that will meet current and future NASA needs and exceed currently available power processor unit (PPU) performance in terms of electrical… More

A power supply concept capable of operation over 25:1 and 64:1 impedance ranges at full power has been successfully demonstrated in our Phase I effort at efficiencies of 96% and above. The benefits of electric propulsion systems are highest when an electric thruster can be operated at high… More

A low-cost, standardized-architecture power system is proposed for NASA electric propulsion (EP) applications. Three approaches are combined to develop a system that will meet current and future NASA needs and exceed currently available power processor unit (PPU) performance in terms of electrical… More

Colorado Power Electronics is in the process of completing NASA SBIR contract NNC07CA12C Wide Output Range Power Processing Unit for Electric Propulsion. At the end of the project, we will have a complete brassboard PPU except for the Digital Control and Interface Unit (DCIU) and Flow Control… More

Colorado Power Electronics (CPE) has built an innovative modular power processing unit (PPU) for Hall Thrusters, including discharge, magnet, heater and keeper supplies, and an interface module. The innovations of this high-performance PPU are its resonant circuit topologies, magnetics design,… More

High-power electric propulsion with Hall thrusters has been proposed as a strong candidate for Electric Path missions, but conventional power processing units (PPUs) are complicated and the mass of the discharge power converters needs to be reduced. Direct Discharge Power Processing Units (DDUs)… More