Power System

The laboratory's needs for typically one day missions and simplified logistics severely oriented the technical solution to the problem. The catamaran is always parked outside, and needs to be transported to various locations situated around Lake Geneva, limiting the number of devices that can be left mounted on the platform when not operating.

Battery powered systems allied with PV panels have been envisioned at first. Such systems are of course very interesting to develop and implement in a project related to environment. Nevertheless, having Lead-acid or Lithium based battery setups implies consequent weight, cost, maintenance and deployment logistics issues. This solutions has therefore been shelved for the initial development.

The alternative solution of having a gas-fueled generator with AC/DC converters fulfills the high operating time and ease of deployment requirements. A compact generator can be easily refueled and keeps pre-and post-mission manipulations to a minimum. The 230 VAC furnished by the generator can be transformed to DC voltages by high efficiency regulated power supplies. The implementation of the catamaran's power system  and its interfacing with the other systems is presented below.