US Army taps GE for vehicle electronics

GE Aviation will develop and demonstrate silicon carbide-based power electronics capable of supporting high-voltage ground vehicle electrical power architectures under a $2.1 million contract from the US Army announced on 15 March.

The contract will see the company undertake an 18-month development programme to demonstrate the benefits of its Silicon Carbide MOSFET technology combined with Gallium Nitride (GaN) devices in a 15kW, 28VDC/600VDC bi-directional converter. 

GE expects the hardware to provide twice the power in less than 50% of the volume of present silicon-based power electronics. In addition, the converters will be able to operate in parallel and be CANbus programmable.

The contract is in support of the US Army's TARDEC next generation vehicle electrical power architecture leap-ahead technology development. It will result in a technology demonstration in mid-2017.

Vic Bonneau, president of electrical power systems, GE Aviation, said: ‘The US Army's implementation of silicon carbide technology for high voltage, more electric ground vehicles, facilitates significant improvements in size, weight and power for high temperature applications.

‘We have multiple silicon carbide based power conversion products in development and continue to invest in this area. Successes to date have led to this new application that will enable the US Army to better manage on-board power and simplify the vehicle cooling architecture. Ultimately, this product will increase mission capability for the warfighter.’