Power Board
Objective
Create a consolidated power system for several devices on the plane and ground station using a single battery and DC-DC converters.
Onboard Devices
| Device | Quantity | Input Voltage | Input Current |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA Jetson Xavier | 1 | 9-19V | 0.5A |
| Ubiquiti Rocket ac | 1 | 24V | 0.5A |
| Servo motor | 2 | 5V | 0.5A |
| Lucid Camera | 1 | 12-24V | 0.5A |
| FR SKY X8R | 1 | 5V | 0.1A |
| RFD 900 | 1 | 5V | 1.0A |
Ground Station Devices
| Device | Quantity | Input Voltage | Input Current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intel NUC | 1 | 9V | 3.4A |
| Ubiquiti Rocket ac | 1 | 24V | 0.5A |
| Router | 1 | 12V | 1.5A |
Buck Converter
The Texas Instruments LM2596 3-A Step-Down Voltage Regulator serves as the step-down converter for the 8S batteries in the ground station. * Input voltage range: 3 V to 36 V * High Output Switch Current: Up to 3.0 A
Topology
The powerbus was designed using the LM2596 converter as seen below:
Gerber files and pcb source code can be found in the powerbus folder and embedded google drive folder.
BOM
| Part | Value | Quantity (per Board) |
|---|---|---|
| Resistors | ||
| 279-LR1F1K0 | 1k | 3 |
| MFR-25FBF52-8K87 | 8.7k | 1 |
| LR1F14K7 | 14.7k | 1 |
| CMF5518K400BER6 | 18.4k | 1 |
| Capacitors | ||
| EEU-FR1V681 | 680u | 3 |
| EEU-FR1V471B | 470u | 3 |
| C0402C152F3GECAUTO | 1.5n | 1 |
| CL05A104KA5NNNC | 1.0n | 1 |
| C0805C681K5RACAUTO | 0.6n | 1 |
| Inductors | ||
| SRP1040VA-680M | 68u | 2 |
| TMPC 1004HV-330MG-D | 33u | 1 |
| Diodes | ||
| VS-50WQ03FNTR-M3 | >3A | 3 |
| ICs | ||
| LM2596TVADJG | 3 |
Notes
The current ground station powerbus design utilizes the LM2596 step down converter does not meet the current requirements of the Intel NUC. * ICs that supply the requisite current are significantly more complex to implement. * A potential solution is through current droop. * Alternative solutions can be investigated.
Implementation for onboard powerbus * Buck/boost converters are required * Alternatively current batteries can be changed from 4S to 8S * This would only require buck converters simplifiy the design process.