Global Strategies for Optimizing the Reliability and Performance of U.s. Army Mobile Power Transfer Systems

As the U.S. Army develops its 30-year science and technology strategy for ground systems, these systems are seen more as mobile power generation systems than just semi-autonomous mobile protection systems. As ground systems continue to have greater levels of electrification, they are perceived as key to providing power not only to the propulsion and mobility systems, but to protection systems, communications, information systems and a complex, ever-increasing suite of auxiliary power systems which are not limited to the vehicle platform itself, but to external systems and platforms. All power systems can be connected wirelessly, or through a microgrid. Therefore, optimizing the overall ground system along with an external suite of loads and sources through a power grid, as a system of systems, becomes crucial in vehicle design. This optimization problem for performance and reliability is complex when considering the outside grid and a mix of other sources and loads with uncertain power quality and availability. This paper proposes how this optimization problem can be formulated and solved, and attempts to change the perspective of the importance of the overall ground system as a power generation system on the battlefield, and for base operations, restoration and contingency operations. Because a microgrid is designed for a period of time, our optimization problem considers factors such as cost to operate, maintenance, reliability, repair time and logistics. This paper also focuses on optimizing the vehicle-microgrid system using these factors with emphasis on the vehicle to grid management where a vehicle is a mobile power generation system and a key part of the grid.