RTX’s business, Pratt & Whitney Canada recently announced the development of an advanced mobile charging unit (MCU) capable of charging high-power batteries at up to 1500 volts.
This makes the charging unit compatible with Megawatt Charging System standards the industry is advancing for high voltage power applications.
The mobile charging unit was developed in partnership with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and Innovative Vehicle Institute (IVI) as part of the RTX hybrid-electric flight demonstrator projecthybrid-electric flight demonstrator project.
"This is the latest example of our hybrid-electric flight demonstrator project, driving collaboration and innovation within Canada's aerospace ecosystem to enable a more sustainable future for aviation," said Alexandre Gagnon, vice president of corporate affairs, Pratt & Whitney Canada. "High voltage, bidirectional charging systems will be critical for a growing number of electric and hybrid-electric systems including aircraft, as well as other transport applications."
In the statement made by the company, it is said that the MCU is made up of commercially available components and is able to deliver up to 280 kW and 1500 volts. With the partnership of IVI, Pratt & Whitney Canada developed a distributed control and protection strategy. The NRC was in charge for the hardware design, assembly, testing and delivery of two charger units, which will be used on the hybrid-electric flight demonstrator project. It is also stated that the charger’s bidirectional capability enables it to both charge and discharge batteries, which allows to recycle unused energy back into the electrical grid.
