Next Generation Tactical Auxiliary Power Units for Today

With the development of Global Armies tactical requirements and necessities more andmore vehicle and platform sub-systems are being used with high demand of electrical power. Under the necessity of high energy demand, normal enginesalternators and air condtioning capacities are inadequate to overcome the new mission profiles. Nero Industries the company located in Turkey developed new series of tactical silent auxiliary power units which don’t need any more power from the vehicle’s engine and generating all the extra necessary power from its quite mini diesel engine and powerful alternator system with sophisticated electronics body control system which can be adaptable to any vehicle on the field. The new succession for generating that power and air conditioning energy with the lowest level of sound generation under 70 dBA.  

Today most of the Mobile Land Systems needs 24 Volts DC electric voltage as some systems might need 12 Volts systems and some might need 230 Volts or 400 Volts systems which can be generated alltogether with next generation tactical silent auxiliary power units. Impleting any new hardware on the land systems most of the time needs more energy and more stability and higher level of electronics control systems which increases the tactical operation capability of the vehicle.  

Gun Systems, Radar systems and CI4 systems needs more and more energy and higher hours of mission capability for the vehicles which needs stable power for 24 hours with low fuel consumption and silent operation. During the operation of an Auxiliary Power Unit, the vehicle’s main engine can be shutdown and all the power requirement can be supplied from the Auxiliary Power Unit without theneed of any inverters or converters or any more complex systems. Auxiliary Power Units are able to give an output of 1000 Amps of Current output with 20 kW Air Conditioning Capacity for an average vehicle system. If an expression is required for the capacity of the systems which are starting from 5kW to 50 kW engine powers. The capacity for the engine is limited only with space of the integration.  

During the operation of an Auxiliary Power Unit , The vehicle’s air can be warmed or cooled according to the climatic requirements during the usage, the auxiliary power unit can assist the main engine to warm the main vehicle engine underextreme cold conditions. 

Under extreme climatic conditions the engine performance necessity is becoming the number 1 priority. The engines with a capacity of 400 HP and 600 HP engines might need more energy or might stall under extreme road conditions and climatic conditions sums up. For a mission profile of 24 hours an operation of 400 HP engine might need logistics support only even for the  fuel consumption of the system as the periodical maintenance hours will be much more costly than a tactical auxiliary power unit fitted in the vehicle. Opposite to operation of an Main Engine operating a auxiliary power units brings tactical advantages of longer survaillance and operation time. Also supplying the capability for more quite operation than a standart vehicle engine. An Auxiliary Power Unit can be fitted on the system easiliy with its own casing to the vehicle. 

. Tactical Power Units are specially designed accordign to geographies and mission profiles to supply the maximum performance. They are supplying the necessary power for hydraulics, electric, air conditioning, pneumatics or direct mechanical power from the Power take off gear mechanisms. Which leaves the engine pure for the movability which is one of the most important survaibility criteria  

Thanks to the new electronics systems and protocols, auxiliary power unit and vehiclebody electronics systems are %100 matched with J1939 protocol. Also any mission computer can be adapted to drive the air conditioning system and watch all the conditions of the system to avoid any suprises to be detected after any problem. The system capacity can be configured according to the requirement of the current situation. The adapted sensor infrastructe gives intelligence regarding the current system information in any additional extended controller with communication protocol. 

The future seems like more individual mission profile for each vehicle with more sophisticated needs and auxiliary power units are ready for supplying the necessary power demand in the most extreme environmental conditions. 

By Alican ÖKÇÜN – Nero Industries Defence And Aerpospace – General Manager- aokcun@neroindustry.com www.neroindustry.com