Case study: C5ISR Avionics computer

Simple, redundant power assures uninterrupted aircraft safety

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Customer’s challenge

Avionics navigational and control systems must function flawlessly, regardless of adverse conditions. To mitigate the risk of system failure, these systems must be designed to function simultaneously using different power sources, ensuring uninterrupted operation of critical systems. The power supply for the equipment also has to operate at high temperatures without using cooling fans, and it needs to be lightweight and physically small. The key challenges were:

Provide extra redundancy for continuous operation
Reliable operation at high temperatures
Compact solution that fits the aircraft’s weight and space limitations

The Vicor solution

High density, high efficiency DCM™ DC-DC converters and ZVS buck regulators minimize complexity and maximize space utilization, enabling a very simple power configuration that makes implementation of the necessary redundant bus easy. The compliance of MIL-COTS DCMs with MIL-STD-810 standards for shock and vibration guarantees robust performance, simplifying and accelerating system compliance testing. The key benefits were:

Key benefits

Simple implementation of the parallel redundant bus

High power density provides redundancy within same space

High-efficiency and thermal adept packaging effectively dissipates heat

Power delivery network

Three MIL-COTS DCM™ DC-DC Converters are used in parallel to provide a common 12V internal redundant bus. Each converter can be operated from a different input power source, yet the converters are still able to provide power sharing between themselves to power the internal 12V bus from a MIL-STD-704 source. Buck regulators are used to provide the lower power, lower voltage 5.0V and 3.3V rails from the 12V bus. MFM™ DCM filters are DC front-end modules used in conjunction with DCMs and provide EMI filtering and transient protection to meet MIL standards.