National Academies Press: OpenBook
« Previous: Executive Summary
Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Overview." National Research Council. 2002. Combat Hybrid Power System Component Technologies: Technical Challenges and Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10595.
×

1
Background and Overview

INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Army envisions that many of its future combat vehicles will feature a hybrid electric power system containing a diesel or turbine generator that will supply electric power to operate the vehicle subsystems, including electric drive and weapons systems. The hybrid electric power system will enhance the warfighting capability of Army vehicles in many ways, including improved acceleration, stealth capabilities for silent mobility/silent watch, energy weapons for increased lethality, and enhanced armor protection for increased survivability.

Because military requirements for hybrid vehicles (e.g., pulsed power requirements) differ significantly from the requirements for civilian commercial hybrid vehicles, the power system architectures are very different. For example, all military systems currently under study use a series hybrid topology, whereas all civilian vehicles use a parallel hybrid technology. In military hybrids, pulsed power and continuous power must operate together without interference. Pulsed power is required for high-power lasers, an electrothermal chemical (ETC) gun, high-power microwave weapons, electromagnetic armor, and other systems. Elements of the continuous power system include prime power (diesel or turbine), generator, motors, converters, power distribution systems, storage, fault protection, safety systems, and auxiliary power connections (see Figure 1-1).

In 1997, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiated the Combat Hybrid Power System (CHPS) program, whose goal is to develop and test a full-scale hybrid electric power system for advanced combat vehicles. To achieve that goal, the program has developed a 100 percent hardware-in-the-loop System Integration Laboratory (SIL)—a reconfigurable laboratory using state-of-the-art hardware and software to simulate a 15-ton, six-wheeled Notional Concept Vehicle (NCV) (see Figure 1-2). The Army’s proposed specifications for the NCV are shown in Table 1-1.

STATEMENT OF TASK

While some of the technologies required to support combat hybrid vehicle power systems are in hand, many technical challenges remain. Accordingly, DARPA requested that the National Research Council (NRC) convene a committee of experts to undertake the following task:

Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Overview." National Research Council. 2002. Combat Hybrid Power System Component Technologies: Technical Challenges and Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10595.
×

FIGURE 1-1 Basic CHPS/FCS power flow diagram. SOURCE: Courtesy of George Frazier, Science Applications International Corporation.

FIGURE 1-2 One version of the CHPS Notional Concept Vehicle. SOURCE: Courtesy of George Frazier, Science Applications International Corporation.

Address the key issues for emerging technologies in the development of the combat hybrid power system components. The technologies to be addressed include permanent magnet technology for hub motors, Li-ion batteries, and high-temperature, wide band gap materials. Other such emerging technologies may also be addressed.

Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Overview." National Research Council. 2002. Combat Hybrid Power System Component Technologies: Technical Challenges and Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10595.
×

TABLE 1-1 Notional Specifications for an FCS-like Combat Vehicle Established in 1997

Metric

Measure

NCV Capability

Acceleration

0-60 mph

15 seconds

Gradability

60% slope

6 mph

Tractive effort

Relative to gross vehicle weight

0.7 TE/GVW

Speed

Continuous road speed

Cross-country speed

70 mph

> 40 mph, 3” rms terrain

Silent/stealth operations

Silent mobility

< 70 dbA @ 20 yards for 20 miles @ 20 mph

Silent/stealth operations

Silent watch

6 hours

Lethality

Energy on target (ground)

3 MJ @ 10 km (3 rpm)

Lethality

Energy on target (air)

150 kJ @ 3 km (1 Hz)

Endurance

Cross-country range

400 miles (30 mph)

Survivability

Armor protection

TOW equivalent ATGM 40 mm AP @ 1000 yards

Environment

Operating temperature extremes

−40 °F to 140 °F

 

SOURCE: Courtesy of George Frazier, Science Applications International Corporation.

COMMITTEE APPROACH

On August 26 and 27, 2002, the NRC Committee on Assessment of Combat Hybrid Power Systems convened a data-gathering workshop in San Jose, California, in accordance with the statement of work. The agenda for the workshop is shown in Appendix A and the list of participants in Appendix B. The committee targeted the three emerging technology areas specified in the statement of work:

  1. Advanced electric motor drives and power electronics,

  2. Battery technologies for military electric and hybrid vehicle applications, and

  3. High-temperature, wideband gap materials for high-power electrical systems.

In addition, the committee determined that three additional emerging technologies should also be addressed:

  1. High-power switching technologies,

  2. Capacitor technologies, and

  3. Computer simulation for storage system design and integration.

This report, which presents the committee’s analysis of the information gathered in the workshop, devotes a chapter to each of these six emerging technology areas. In each case, the committee attempted to identify the key technical challenges in each area, performance metrics for the technologies, and research priorities for the future.

Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Overview." National Research Council. 2002. Combat Hybrid Power System Component Technologies: Technical Challenges and Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10595.
×
This page in the original is blank.
Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Overview." National Research Council. 2002. Combat Hybrid Power System Component Technologies: Technical Challenges and Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10595.
×
Page 11
Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Overview." National Research Council. 2002. Combat Hybrid Power System Component Technologies: Technical Challenges and Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10595.
×
Page 12
Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Overview." National Research Council. 2002. Combat Hybrid Power System Component Technologies: Technical Challenges and Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10595.
×
Page 13
Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Overview." National Research Council. 2002. Combat Hybrid Power System Component Technologies: Technical Challenges and Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10595.
×
Page 14
Next: 2 Advanced Electric Motor Drives and Power Electronics »
Combat Hybrid Power System Component Technologies: Technical Challenges and Research Priorities Get This Book
×
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

This book provides the detail from the NRC Committee on Assessment of Combat Hybrid Power Systems. This committee targeted three emerging technology areas: advanced electric motor drives and power electronics, battery technologies for military electric and hybrid vehicle applications, and high temperature wideband gap materials for high-power electrical systems. This committee also addressed three additional emerging technologies: high power switching technologies, capacitor technologies and computer simulation for storage system design and integration.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!