ESA Open Invitation to Tender: 1-10682
Open Date: 12/10/2021 08:31 CEST
Closing Date: 11/01/2022 13:00 CEST

The objective of the activity is to design, manufacture and test a high voltage, high switching frequency power converter enabling switching frequencies up to 1 MHz, for use in electronic power conditioners for travelling wave tube amplifiers. Targeted Improvements:- Reduced size/mass by 20% with respect to the state of the art;- Reduced manufacturing complexity/effort (number of components/manufacturing steps/time) by 25%;- No penalty on efficiency, i.e. targeting at least 94%.Description: The market is continuously requesting mass and volume reduction and power conversion efficiency improvement. However, current state of the art electronic power conditioners have reached their limits in terms of efficiency and compactness. The introduction of wide bandgap and planar magnetic technologies has the potential to overcome these limitations, allowing greater integration and providing significant improvements inefficiency, mass and volume. Moreover, the use of planar magnetics and surface mounted components will significantly reduce manufacturing and assembly complexity. These technologies are already used widely for low voltage applications with great success (including in space). Previous developments of high voltage planar transformer technology as a drop-in replacement for converters in the 100 kHz range are paving the way to a new focus on higher switching frequencies in the 1 MHz range. This activity will develop a scaled engineering model of a high voltage, high switching frequency power converter using wide bandgap technology. The engineering model will implement the critical functions of electronic power conditioners for travelling wave tube amplifiers, targeting Ku-band, Ka-band (RF power of up to 250 W class) and Q-band (up to 150 W class) applications. Superior efficiency performance and a reduced footprint of the converter shall be demonstrated, as well as high voltage properties by testing in vacuum. Compatibility with the typical load shall be verified with an existing travelling wave tube amplifier operating in Ku-, Ka- or Q-band. Additional challenges in relation to radiation hardness (heavy ions) shall be addressed to enable the use of the wide bandgap components in high voltage applications in the space environment.

Directorate: Directorate Telecom Integrated Applica
Estabilishment: ESTEC
ECOS Required: No
Classified: No
Price Range: > 500 KEURO
Authorised Contact Person: Nicole Rinaudo
Initiating Service: TIA-TT
IP Measure: N/A
Prog. Reference: E/0534-01G – CC-AT 4.0.1
Tender Type: Open Competition
Open To Tenderers From: AT+BE+CA+CH+CZ+DE+DK+EL+ES+FI+FR+GB+HU+IE+IT+LU+NL+NO+PL+PT+RO+SE
Technology Keywords: 3-D-III-Power Distribution
Products Keywords: 2-L-2/3/4.1-b-Analog: Signal amplifiers