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Abstract

Habitations in remote areas around the world lack basic infrastructure to achieve an efficient supply chain. Over 90% of roads are unpaved and fuel infrastructure is scarce. A solar-powered hybrid airship was conceived to address this problem. It is a buoyant low-altitude aircraft with an electric power train and wing-mounted photovoltaic array. Fully electric operation requires efficient lightweight power electronics to maximize range and payload. A Partial Power Processing (PPP) converter based on the bidirectional Cuk topology is demonstrated for this application. Due to the PPP concept, the converter is rated for only about a quarter of the generated PV power. The rating is optimized based on the battery and photovoltaic array voltage ranges. The experimental prototype uses Silicon Carbide MOSFETS and achieves a system efficiency of up to 99.3%.

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First Claim