Coordination of Large Pulsed Loads on Future Electric Ships

Part of the technical versatility of future all-electric ships is the potential ability to share large amounts of power among a variety of high-power loads. To help evaluate this potential and to provide information to help guide technology selection, a physics-based model of a power train for an electric ship has been developed and implemented on three modeling platforms. Using this model, three different investigations have been carried out to explore aspects of the behavior of a rotating machine power source for a shipboard rail launcher. These were: 1) influence of rapid charging of the rotating machine system on the ship power system; 2) use of the stored energy in the rotating machines to improve ship power quality; and 3) use of the stored energy in the rotating machines to power a pulsed free-electron laser. Each study highlighted different integration opportunities and challenges. The first showed that, because the charging of the rail launchers was through 5-MW motors, there could be a voltage sag for a few cycles, but this could easily be managed so that the sag could be reduced to an inconsequential level. The second study showed that, with appropriate power electronics, the stored energy in the rail launcher power supply can be used to correct power quality problems introduced by other ship systems. Finally, the stored energy in the launcher power supply can be used to fire a free electron laser for ship defense. This feature opens the possibility of routine operation of the entire ship at highest efficiency, i.e., with the smallest number of gas turbines operating near full power, while providing stored energy needed for ship defense