An 840 V-to-120 V Radiation-Tolerant Flying Capacitor Multilevel Converter for Space Robotics

Abstract

High-performance, high conversion ratio power electronics are necessary to enable robotics in future space exploration. This work utilizes the flying capacitor multilevel topology to build a lightweight, efficient converter for these applications. The design is optimized to minimize the mass of the passive components, and a stacked printed circuit board layout is used to further reduce the size. Radiation-tolerant part equivalents are utilized to emulate the performance of a space-rated prototype, and GaN HEMTs are used to further improve the converter’s resiliency towards radiation effects. The design approach is verified through an 840 V, 600 W, 8-level FCML hardware prototype. The design achieves a peak efficiency of 95.4% and a power density of 4.92 kW/kg.