Manufacturability Assessment of the Navy Integrated Power and Energy Corridor (NiPEC)

Abstract

The growing electrical demands of sophisticated naval vessels necessitate the development of advanced power distribution methods. With the U.S. Navy’s shift towards fully electric ships, exemplified by the Zumwalt class destroyer and the forthcoming DDG(X), the demand for electrical power on future ships is projected to exceed 100 megawatts. To meet this challenge, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sea Grant Program’s Design Laboratory, in collaboration with the Electric Ship Research and Development Consortium (ESRDC), is developing the Navy Integrated Power and Energy Corridor (NiPEC). This innovative system is designed to transform power management in all-electric warships through the use of modular units for energy management and power electronic building block (PEBB) technology. Substantial groundwork has been established on the components and initial configurations of NiPEC. The collaborative team is working to develop not only a more robust power distribution system, but also an infrastructure that is simpler to construct, install, and maintain onboard. A next step of development focuses on evaluating the design’s manufacturability and the feasibility of manufacturing and installing the system aboard ships. This study explored the principles of Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and Design for Production (DFP) and then defined how these concepts apply to the Power Electronic Power Distribution Systems (PEPDS) and the NiPEC project. By leveraging the principles of DFM and DFP, this thesis proposes criteria for assessing the overall manufacturability of the NiPEC and its subsystems. By establishing criteria based on the principles of DFM as it pertains to NiPEC and naval applications, system designs may be objectively evaluated throughout the design phase. This thesis applies the proposed evaluation criteria to current NiPEC cooling system designs to illustrate the application of these criteria. This evaluation also highlights the trade-offs between manufacturability and other key metrics such as cost, reliability, and maintainability. These criteria may be useful in evaluating the design and functionality of systems and subsystems, steering design choices towards solutions that are not only technically sound, but also practical for manufacturing and installation. This approach ensures the alignment of the NiPEC system with the evolving needs of naval power management, and further enables its successful implementation on future all-electric warships. With this evaluation, this thesis begins to bridge the gap between the current state of research and the practical deployment of a next-generation shipboard power distribution system.