Technical tradeoffs for downsizing ETC power systems

Technical tradeoffs for downsizing three different ETC (electrothermal chemical) power system concepts are presented, and midterm goals are established for system size and weight reductions. The desired features of an ETC tank advanced technology demonstrator are selected to baseline the system projections. The key impeding technologies and issues that are important to make significant system size and weight reductions are identified. The likelihood of achieving the midterm goals is discussed. The compulsator approach appears to be the most compact system that could be devised in the near future, with moderate increases in rotating speed and field excitation over the state-of-the-art designs. The compulsator-based system is capable of rapid discharging for burst firings. The battery/PFN (pulse forming network) and the alternator/PFN based systems are not able to perform burst firings without multiple sets of PFN (or integrated PFN) modules used for system integration