DisruptivE Electrical Propulsion - Power Processing Unit

Project Information

DEEP-PPU

Grant agreement ID: 101082685

DOI

10.3030/101082685

Project closed

EC signature date 30 September 2022

Start date 1 October 2022

End date 30 November 2025

Funded under

• Digital, Industry and Space

Total cost

€ 2 464 145,75

EU contribution

€ 1 798 888,28

Coordinated by

COMPUTADORAS REDES E INGENIERIA SA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DEEP-PPU (DisruptivE Electrical Propulsion - Power Processing Unit)

Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2024-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The objective of DEEP-PPU project is to develop up to TRL5 a disruptive Power Processing Unit (PPU) for Electrical
Propulsion Gridded Ion Thrusters (GIT). This solution will stand out with its outstanding 30% mass and volume
reduction compared to the existing solutions on the market, while reducing the cost of the unit by a factor of two.
The DEEP PPU project will strengthen the EU's space sector competitiveness in the international market, while
securing the autonomy of supply for critical technologies and equipment.

The target PPU will be achieved through the use ground-breaking technologies in space, namely Gallium Nitride
semiconductors and Commercial Off-The-Shelf components, together with the implementation of custom design of
power magnetics, the integration of the Radio Frequency Generation (RFG) unit and the synergies with previous
developments in the frame of GIESEPP (Gridded Ion Engine Standardised Electric Propulsion Platforms).

The integration of the RFG unit within the PPU, in addition to simplifying the Electric Propulsion System and
lowering the overall costs, will allow to accommodate GIT systems in platforms currently implementing Hall-Effect
Thruster (HET) without structural changes, making the GIT solution much more attractive to satellite integrators.
Market is moving fast, and to bring innovative solutions leading to an increase of competitiveness is nowadays even
more important. The main key satellite integrators are considering to include in their portfolio both technologies,
high thrust EP solutions mainly based on HET, and high Isp solutions mainly based on GIT. The increase of
competitiveness will have a direct positive impact at system level for GIT solutions which will enable the use of
European GIT systems by key satellite integrators worldwide, in particular by US and European key players. The
target markets are GEO and MEO and deep space applications which overall offers an accessible market of 20
satellites average per year. To date GIT EP based solutions have a market share between 10 to 15% of the overall
market. The proposed activity will bring the opportunity to increase market share up to 30% with 5 to 7 satellites
average per year. The increase of market share will lead to a significant business volume for the DEEP PPU over the
period 2023 – 2030 up to 70 M€. This figure represents a business volume increase of around 50 M€
A multidisciplinary team of entities across Europe has been set, providing the right background and expertise to
perform the required activities.

The proposed PPU product fits the HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01-12 topic (Technologies and generic building
blocks for Electrical Propulsion), specifically addressing the second area of this topic “R&I on electrical power
architecture and related components (Power Processing Unit, direct drive, etc.)”

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Starting on October 2022, DEEP PPU consortium has been dedicated to develop a disruptive solution for the PPU market based on the state-of-the-art technology achievable from each partner based on its expertise.

DEEP PPU has grown up a technology presented during the Kick-Off of the project in November 2022, which application requirements have been evaluated at the System Requirement Review in January 2023, and with a design that was agreed during the Preliminary Design Review in July 2023. During this period EBBs have been developed to validate the FCCM functionalities, the RFG functionality and the RFG specific Harness in order to mitigate design risks.

Next steps of DEEP PPU project will be the Critical Design Review which is scheduled on June 2024, and prototype manufacturing which will happen along 2024.

As DEEP PPU development is under design phase, project objectives accomplishment has been evaluated based on design reviews and prototypes outcomes. Following table shows the main targets of the project at KOM against current evaluation:

Kick-Off Target Periodic Review Estimation
Cost Reduction 50% 60.0%
Mass Reduction 30% 43.4%
Volume Reduction 30% 26.9%
Efficiency improvement 1-2% 0.0%


These four objectives will be challenged as follows:

• Cost estimations will remain as estimations until a Flight Model will be manufactured. Most uncertainties are related to manufacturing estimations and acceptance under recurrence.

• Mass Reduction will be recalculated once TSM design is finished and confirmed once the EM is manufactured and a direct measurement is taken.

• Volume Reduction is not expected to change and its value will be confirmed once EM is manufactured and a direct measurement is taken.

• Efficiency will be recalculated during PPU characterization tests and test data will be provided.


Additionally, there is an accommodation objective of having the RFG integrated within the PPU which is directly linked to the RFG harness specification. Locating the PPU far from the thruster impacts the electrical parameters of the RFG harness in terms of capacitance and resistance per meter and affects the overall system performances.

• FEM simulations have been done to estimate harness behaviour.

• Several specimens have been manufactured to correlate simulations in order to select the most suitable candidate to be manufactured in a full-length harness.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

As explained in the owrk performed part of the summary, results are mid-term estimations and connot be taken as firm results.

as you can see in the target summary table, cost and masss reduction are beyond expectations but efficiency of the unit is still estimated as the original design. Testing prototypes will help to give a more accurate values that can be used to improve current estimations.