A Multiport Power Conversion System for the More Electric Aircraft

In more electric aircraft (MEA), weight reduction and energy efficiency constitute the key figures. In addition, the safety and continuity of operation of its electrical power distribution system (EPDS) are of critical importance. These sets of desired features are in disagreement with each other be...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on transportation electrification 2020-12, Vol.6 (4), p.1707-1720
Main Authors: Gu, Chunyang, Yan, Hao, Yang, Jiajun, Sala, Giacomo, De Gaetano, Daniele, Wang, Xuchen, Galassini, Alessandro, Degano, Michele, Zhang, Xin, Buticchi, Giampaolo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aircraft
Design analysis
Electric converters
Electric power distribution
Electrical power distribution system (EPDS)
Energy conversion efficiency
Fly by wire control
Inverters
more electric aircraft (MEA)
multi-three-phase electrical machines
multiport active bridge (MAB)
multiport power conversion system (MPCS)
Optimization
Power conversion
Power converters
Power distribution
Power transformer insulation
Redundancy
Safety
segmented driven starter/generators
Weight reduction
Windings
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Summary:In more electric aircraft (MEA), weight reduction and energy efficiency constitute the key figures. In addition, the safety and continuity of operation of its electrical power distribution system (EPDS) are of critical importance. These sets of desired features are in disagreement with each other because higher redundancy, needed to guarantee the safety of operation, implies additional weight. In fact, EPDS is usually divided into isolated sections that need to be sized for the worst case scenario. Several concepts of EPDS have been investigated, aiming at enabling the power exchange among separate sections, which allows better optimization for power and weight of the whole system. In this article, an approach based on the widespread use of multiport power converters for both dc/dc and dc/ac stages is proposed. System integration of these two is proposed as a multiport power conversion system (MPCS), which allows a ring power distribution, while galvanic isolation is still maintained, even in fault conditions. Thus, the redundancy of MEA is established by no significant weight increase. A machine design analysis shows how the segmented machine could offer superior performance to the traditional one with the same weight. Simulation and experimental verifications show the system feasibility in both normal and fault operations.
ISSN:2332-7782
2577-4212
2332-7782
DOI:10.1109/TTE.2020.3019446