The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $50,000 - Tuesday the 20th of May 2014
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  COLORADO POWER ELECTRONICS (CPE) HAS BUILT AN INNOVATIVE MODULAR POWER PROCESSING UNIT (PPU) FOR HALL THRUSTERS, INCLUDING DISCHARGE, MAGNET, HEATER AND KEEPER SUPPLIES, AND AN INTERFACE MODULE. THE INNOVATIONS OF THIS HIGH-PERFORMANCE PPU ARE ITS RESONANT CIRCUIT TOPOLOGIES, MAGNETICS DESIGN, MODULARITY, AND ITS STABLE AND SUSTAINED OPERATION DURING SEVERE HALL EFFECT THRUSTER CURRENT OSCILLATIONS. LABORATORY TESTING AT NASA GLENN RESEARCH CENTER (GRC) HAS DEMONSTRATED DISCHARGE MODULE EFFICIENCY OF 96% WITH IS CONSIDERABLY HIGHER THAN CURRENT STATE OF THE ART. THE PURPOSE OF THE PHASE II PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP AN ENGINEERING MODEL HIVHAC PPU THAT INCLUDES A DIGITAL CONTROL INTERFACE UNIT (DCIU) TO TRL 6. THIS WILL POSITION CPE TO MANUFACTURE A QUALIFICATION MODEL PPU AS A PHASE III PROJECT. THE PROTOTYPE DIGITALLY-CONTROLLED FLOW CONTROLLER WITH A PC INTERFACE DEVELOPED IN PHASE I WILL SERVE AS THE FOUNDATION FOR A COMBINATION DCIU-FLOW MODULE TO BE ADDED TO THE PPU IN PHASE II. THERMAL AND VIBRATION FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS (FEA) WILL BE PERFORMED ON THE REDUCED-MASS CHASSIS DESIGNED IN PHASE I, AND THEN A TEST BRASSBOARD PPU WILL BE BUILT AND TESTED. ADDITIONALLY, THE CONTROL LOOPS OF THE PPU WILL BE ANALYZED AND A STRESS ANALYSIS WILL BE PERFORMED. THE TEST PPU WILL BE A DELIVERABLE TO NASA GRC. THE RESULTS OF THE ANALYSIS AND TESTING WILL BE USED TO DESIGN AND BUILD AN ENGINEERING MODEL FLIGHT-LIKE PPU THAT INCLUDES FLIGHT-LIKE WIRE HARNESSING SCHEMES, EMI FILTERING, ENHANCED MODULARITY AND THE NEW DCIU-FLOW MODULE. AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PROJECT, THE TRL OF THE PPU IS BETWEEN 4 AND 5, THE TRL OF THE DCIU IS 2, AND THE TRL OF THE VALVE DRIVER IS 3. AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE PHASE II EFFORT THE PPU/DCIU WILL BE AT TRL 6.

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• $200,000 - Tuesday the 20th of May 2014
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  COLORADO POWER ELECTRONICS (CPE) HAS BUILT AN INNOVATIVE MODULAR POWER PROCESSING UNIT (PPU) FOR HALL THRUSTERS, INCLUDING DISCHARGE, MAGNET, HEATER AND KEEPER SUPPLIES, AND AN INTERFACE MODULE. THE INNOVATIONS OF THIS HIGH-PERFORMANCE PPU ARE ITS RESONANT CIRCUIT TOPOLOGIES, MAGNETICS DESIGN, MODULARITY, AND ITS STABLE AND SUSTAINED OPERATION DURING SEVERE HALL EFFECT THRUSTER CURRENT OSCILLATIONS. LABORATORY TESTING AT NASA GLENN RESEARCH CENTER (GRC) HAS DEMONSTRATED DISCHARGE MODULE EFFICIENCY OF 96% WITH IS CONSIDERABLY HIGHER THAN CURRENT STATE OF THE ART. THE PURPOSE OF THE PHASE II PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP AN ENGINEERING MODEL HIVHAC PPU THAT INCLUDES A DIGITAL CONTROL INTERFACE UNIT (DCIU) TO TRL 6. THIS WILL POSITION CPE TO MANUFACTURE A QUALIFICATION MODEL PPU AS A PHASE III PROJECT. THE PROTOTYPE DIGITALLY-CONTROLLED FLOW CONTROLLER WITH A PC INTERFACE DEVELOPED IN PHASE I WILL SERVE AS THE FOUNDATION FOR A COMBINATION DCIU-FLOW MODULE TO BE ADDED TO THE PPU IN PHASE II. THERMAL AND VIBRATION FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS (FEA) WILL BE PERFORMED ON THE REDUCED-MASS CHASSIS DESIGNED IN PHASE I, AND THEN A TEST BRASSBOARD PPU WILL BE BUILT AND TESTED. ADDITIONALLY, THE CONTROL LOOPS OF THE PPU WILL BE ANALYZED AND A STRESS ANALYSIS WILL BE PERFORMED. THE TEST PPU WILL BE A DELIVERABLE TO NASA GRC. THE RESULTS OF THE ANALYSIS AND TESTING WILL BE USED TO DESIGN AND BUILD AN ENGINEERING MODEL FLIGHT-LIKE PPU THAT INCLUDES FLIGHT-LIKE WIRE HARNESSING SCHEMES, EMI FILTERING, ENHANCED MODULARITY AND THE NEW DCIU-FLOW MODULE. AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PROJECT, THE TRL OF THE PPU IS BETWEEN 4 AND 5, THE TRL OF THE DCIU IS 2, AND THE TRL OF THE VALVE DRIVER IS 3. AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE PHASE II EFFORT THE PPU/DCIU WILL BE AT TRL 6.

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• $124,991 - Monday the 26th of November 2012
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  HIGH-POWER ELECTRIC PROPULSION WITH HALL THRUSTERS HAS BEEN PROPOSED AS A STRONG CANDIDATE FOR ELECTRIC PATH MISSIONS, BUT CONVENTIONAL POWER PROCESSING UNITS (PPUS) ARE COMPLICATED AND THE MASS OF THE DISCHARGE POWER CONVERTERS NEEDS TO BE REDUCED. DIRECT DISCHARGE POWER PROCESSING UNITS (DDUS) HAVE BEEN PROPOSED AS AN ALTERNATIVE DUE TO THEIR SIMPLICITY AND LOW MASS, BUT THE ACHIEVABLE OPERATING RANGE OF THRUST AND ISP IS SIGNIFICANTLY LIMITED BECAUSE POWER REGULATION FOR DDUS IS ONLY ACHIEVED THROUGH GAS FLOW CONTROL, ARRAY OFFPOINTING OR SHUNTING. THIS PROPOSAL PRESENTS A COMPROMISE BETWEEN PPUS AND DDUS CALLED A HYBRID DIRECT DRIVE POWER PROCESSING UNIT (HDDU) THAT PROVIDES A WIDER OPERATING RANGE THAN DDUS WHILE REDUCING THE MASS AND INCREASING THE EFFICIENCY COMPARED TO CONVENTIONAL PPUS. AN HDDU PROVIDES FILTERING LIKE A DDU, BUT IT CAN ADDITIONALLY RAISE OR LOWER THE DISCHARGE VOLTAGE OVER A LIMITED RANGE. AN HDDU ONLY PROCESSES THE POWER NECESSARY TO RAISE OR LOWER THE DISCHARGE VOLTAGE. SEVERAL DIFFERENT CONVERTER CIRCUITS CAN BE USED IN AN HDDU. ONE APPROACH USES AN ISOLATED HIGH-EFFICIENCY RESONANT DC-DC CONVERTER WITH CONNECTIONS THAT CAN BE CONFIGURED THROUGH A SET OF ELECTROMECHANICAL RELAYS. ANOTHER APPROACH USES A NOVEL SOFT-SWITCHING NON-INVERTING BUCK-BOOST CIRCUIT THAT REQUIRES NO RELAYS, BUT IS A LITTLE LESS EFFICIENT THAN RESONANT CIRCUITS. STRAIGHT-THROUGH DIRECT DRIVE OPERATION IS POSSIBLE WITH EITHER TYPE OF CONVERTER. THE PROPOSED HDDU WOULD OPERATE FROM AN INPUT VOLTAGE OF 150 V TO 300 V, AND WOULD PROVIDE 10 KW OUTPUT POWER OVER A LIMITED RANGE SUCH AS FROM 150 V TO 500 V. THE HDDU APPROACH IS READILY SCALABLE BY CONNECTING MODULES IN PARALLEL BECAUSE BOTH PROPOSED CIRCUITS NATURALLY SHARE OUTPUT CURRENTS. THE MODULAR APPROACH AND ENHANCED OPERATING RANGE INCREASE DESIGN RE-USE AND REDUCE LIFE-CYCLE COSTS. A PHASE II PROJECT COULD INCLUDE MAKING A MORE FLIGHT-LIKE DISCHARGE SUPPLY AND ADDING HEATER, KEEPER AND MAGNET SUPPLIES.

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