N131-032 TITLE: Low Noise Torpedo Power Supply

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Weapons

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMS404, Undersea Weapons Program Office

RESTRICTION ON PERFORMANCE BY FOREIGN CITIZENS (i.e., those holding non-U.S. Passports): This topic is "ITAR Restricted". The information and materials provided pursuant to or resulting from this topic are restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120 - 130, which control the export of defense-related material and services, including the export of sensitive technical data. Foreign Citizens may perform work under an award resulting from this topic only if they hold the "Permanent Resident Card", or are designated as "Protected Individuals" as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3). If a proposal for this topic contains participation by a foreign citizen who is not in one of the above two categories, the proposal will be rejected.

OBJECTIVE: The objective is to develop and field an innovative power supply that supports the extremely low noise requirements of a broadband torpedo sonar system.

DESCRIPTION: The Navy has developed a broadband sonar system for the Mk48 Heavyweight Torpedo with a significantly widened signal processing bandwidth to improve performance and capability over the legacy sonar system. The broadband sonar system, however, cannot operate to its full potential due to noise and ripple from the current power supplies used to supply power to the electronics in the torpedo.

The current technology used for power supplies in the commercial and government sector is linear and switching (See reference 1). For the past ten years the method used to supply the power to the electronics in the torpedo has been commercial off the shelf switch mode DC-DC converters which have a slight disadvantage of producing radiated EMI (electrical noise).

As the Navy pursues improvements in torpedo performance with state of the art sonar systems, power supply performance for these systems will need to improve. An extremely low noise, low ripple power supply capable of rejecting noise generated by the torpedo is required for the broadband sonar system (See references 2and 3). The power supply will have an input voltage of 275VDC supplied by the torpedo and shall perform a DC to DC conversion to generate low output voltages ranging from 3.3VDC to 28VDC with an output noise less than 0.15mVrms/rtHz and shall be capable of providing an output power of approximately 1275 watts. The power supply shall reside in a volume of 225 cubic inches and weigh less than 13 lbs.

The Phase I effort will not require access to classified information. If need be, data of the same level of complexity as secured data will be provided to support Phase I work. The Phase II effort will likely require secure access, and the contractor will need to be prepared for personnel and facility certification for secure access.

PHASE I: The company will develop concepts for an improved Low Noise Torpedo Power Supply that meets the requirements described above. The company will demonstrate the feasibility of the concepts in meeting Navy needs and will establish that the concepts can be feasibly developed into a useful product for the Navy. Feasibility will be established by testing and analytical modeling. The company will provide a Phase II development plan with performance goals and key technical milestones, and that will address technical risk reduction.

PHASE II: Based on the results of Phase I and the Phase II development plan, the company will develop a scaled prototype for evaluation as appropriate. The prototype will be evaluated to determine its capability in meeting the performance goals defined in Phase II development plan and the Navy requirements for the low noise power supply. System performance will be demonstrated through prototype evaluation and modeling or analytical methods over the required range of parameters including in-water demonstrations. Evaluation results will be used to refine the prototype into an initial design that will meet Navy requirements. The company will prepare a Phase III development plan to transition the technology to Navy use.

PHASE III: If Phase II is successful, the company will be expected to support the Navy in transitioning the technology for Navy use. The company will work with the Navy conducting tests and in-water demonstrations using the improved power supplies installed in torpedoes. The in-water testing will verify the performance of the selected concept and allow for ease of transition into torpedoes requiring the improved power supplies. The company will support the Navy for test and validation to certify and qualify the system for Navy use.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: These state of the art power supply concepts could be used in avionics, vetronics, medical imaging and pro/commercial audio applications (i.e. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)).

REFERENCES:
1. Brown, Marty. Practical Switching Power Supply Design (Motorola Series in Solid State Electronics). San Diego: Academic Press, 1990.

2. Self, Douglas. Audio Power Amplifier Design Handbook, 5th Edition. Burlington: Elsevier Ltd., 2009.

3. Brown, Marty. Power Sources and Supplies: World Class Designs. Burlington: Elsevier Ltd., 2008.

KEYWORDS: Linear Regulated Power Supply Switched-Mode Power Supply; Line Regulation; Ultralow Noise Regulators; Power Supply Rejection; Distortion; Sonar; Noise Reduction (filtering), and Dynamic Range

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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