Understanding direct current electrical architectures and enabling technologies through modelling and simulation

As armed forces begin to adopt more widespread use of pulsed-power loads and more capable energy storage solutions, there is a need to consider the electrical system design to best service the expected network loads. The challenges for voltage control, load sharing and stability under fault have strong parallels with those faced by the Electricity Supply Industry (ESI). The work presented in this paper summarises a study into the likely risks and mitigations associated with the introduction of Direct Current (DC) electrical architectures and associated equipment to meet the demanding energy needs of the future. It uses high fidelity modelling in order to simulate the performance of a range of proposed DC electrical architectures and compares two potential electrical protection methodologies for naval vessels. This work also compares the relative performance of energy storage devices including batteries, supercapacitors and flywheels which are best equipped to support energy weapon pulse filtering, ESI fault ride through and demand peak-lopping. The paper highlights where DC electrical architectures might be applicable for all electrical networks of the future.