Flemington, NJ. Magna-Power Electronics announced the delivery of a 1-MW water-cooled DC electronic load to the U.S. Navy, which will use it to research, develop, test, and evaluate the operation of energy-storage modules (ESMs) in a shipboard environment. To meet this requirement, Magna-Power delivered ten of its standard 100-kW WRx Series MagnaLOAD DC electronic loads, configured in two master-slave sets of 500 kW.
Given the nature of these tests, which can last for days, Magna-Power designed its MagnaLOAD products for continuous full-power operation at a 50°C ambient operating temperature and cooling-water temperature up to 25°C. Magna-Power designed and manufactured microchannel water-cooled heatsinks, allowing the company deliver power dissipation of 12.5 kW per 4U. In addition, Magna-Power’s new patented Active Resistance Technology combines a switched binary matrix of resistances with MOSFETs to deliver features and performance consistent with traditional electronic loads, at a fraction of the price. The product features a wide operating range, allowing full power to be achieved over the range 50% to 100% rated voltage in its high-power range. A separate low-power range enables high-current operation at lower voltages.
“While a significant engineering undertaking for the company, the result is a brand new product line, three new product series, and a new robust digital-control scheme that will be far-reaching,” said Ira J. Pitel, Ph.D., president of Magna-Power Electronics. “As a company, we are very proud to support this program and greatly value the U.S. Navy’s support and cooperation to allow Magna-Power to realize this system.”
This contract was proving ground for Magna-Power’s new distributed DSP digital control platform, MagnaLINK, which paves the way for the company’s future products. This new control platform, available in the MagnaLOAD product line, provides simultaneous high-speed high-reliability control and measurement aggregation of 40 modules, while operating in a high-EMI environment. Furthermore, MagnaLINK provides simultaneous master-slave firmware upgrade, with new-product configuration detection and automatic settings reconfiguration.
When fully developed, the ESMs are intended to integrate into the ship’s electrical system and dynamically act as a power source or power sink, depending on the electrical needs of the ship. The MagnaLOAD DC electronic load product line is available now, spanning many air- and water-cooled models across three product series.