Moving towards a more electric aircraft

The latest advances in electric and electronic aircraft technologies from the point of view of an "all-electric" aircraft are presented herein. Specifically, we describe the concept of a "more electric aircraft" (MEA), which involves removing the need for on-engine hydraulic power generation and bleed air off-takes, and the increasing use of power electronics in the starter/generation system of the main engine. Removal of the engine hydraulic pumps requires fully-operative electrical power actuators and mastery of the flight control architecture. The paper presents a general overview of the electrical power generation system and electric drives for the MEA, with special regard to the flight controls. Some discussion regarding the interconnection of nodes and safety of buses and protocols in distributed systems is also presented     

The All-Electric Fighter Airplane Flight Control Issues, Capabilities, and Projections

The prime issues raised in any all-electric airplane discussion are (1) is the electric power system as reliable and trustworthy as a hydraulic power system; (2) can electromechanical flight control actuators perform satisfactorily, i.e., can the performance match that of hydraulic actuators; (3) can redundant electromechanical actuation systems (EMAS) be designed to equal the flight safety reliability of dual tandem hydraulic actuators; and (4) can satisfactory solutions be found or developed for dissipating the heat generated in actuators and power controllers. The first question should be inconsequential since it is assumed that the all-electric aircraft will be equipped with a fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control system (FCS) which is already dependent upon an uninterrupted supply of electrical power. Design studies and hardware already developed show that the answer to question (2) is that EMAS outperform hydraulic actuators, particularly under load. The answer to question (3) is not as clear primarily because the issue has not been addressed in any depth. As posed the answer must be yes, but with the proviso that the weight might be greater than currently predicted. Studies have shown that we can cope with the heat dissipation issue addressed in question (4) in the case of motors and inverter/power controllers. The projections regarding usage of EMAS and the future of the all-electric airplane must be based on the type of vehicle (small subsonic transport, large transport, or military tighter) and the economics involved.     

The All-Electric Aircraft: A Systems View and Proposed NASA Research Programs

The previous papers have offered the distant vision of an all-electric aircraft?one which fully exploits the intrinsic features of electric power and electronic controls. This paper examines the path to that vision and the barriers along the way?some of which appear relatively easy to overcome while others are more formidable. It is interesting to conjecture what an all-electric aircraft will look like. The all-electric technologies may offer many design options and this paper suggests some tantalizing possibilities. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has sponsored or conducted a number of activities to foster the development of an all-electric airplane. The results of these activities are presented. Finally, in a look to the future, two NASA new initiatives are briefly discussed.     

Review on signal-by-wire and power-by-wire actuation for more electric aircraft

The huge and rapid progress in electric drives offers new opportunities to improve the performances of aircraft at all levels:fuel burn,environmental footprint,safety,integration and production,serviceability,and maintainability.Actuation for safety-critical applications like flight-controls,landing gears,and even engines is one of the major consumers of non-propulsive power.Conventional actuation with centralized hydraulic power generation and distribution and control of power by throttling has been well established for decades,but offers a limited potential of evolution.In this context,electric drives become more and more attractive to remove the natural drawbacks of conventional actuation and to offer new opportunities for improving performance.This paper takes the stock,at both the signal and power levels,of the evolution of actuation for safety-critical applications in aerospace.It focuses on the recent advances and the remaining chal lenges to be taken toward full electrical actuation for commercial and military aircraft,helicopters,and launchers.It logically starts by emphasizing the specificity of safety-critical actuation for aero space.The following section addresses in details the evolution of aerospace actuation from mechanically-signaled and hydraulically-supplied to all electric,with special emphasis on research and development programs and on solutions entered into service.Finally,the last section reviews the challenges to be taken to generalize the use of all-electric actuators for future aircraft programs.     

特种飞机配电系统设计分析

随着国内大飞机平台和航空电子技术的快速发展,未来我国军用特种飞机设计过程必将体现多电化/全电化设计理念。配电系统作为飞机的关键分系统,对多电/全电飞机而言,重要性更加突出。主要论述特种飞机配电系统设计,分析了当前国内外飞机配电技术的发展现状和特种飞机典型配电系统架构设计方案,针对我国军用特种飞机电源系统发展趋势,提出了未来特种飞机配电系统设计思路,为新一代特种飞机配电系统设计提供了重要参考。     

一种电动飞机概念方案的参数设计方法

为了准确地进行电动飞机概念方案的设计评估,从其自身特征出发,结合任务需求和不同飞行阶段的能耗分析,建立了全机总质量评估模块;为了完成方程的封闭和满足必要的飞行性能约束,建立了参数矩阵图模块;搭建的设计系统可以有效评估起飞总质量、翼载荷、功率载荷和翼展等总体参数。基于该系统,对国内外三款电动飞机进行设计和对比分析:不同机型下,程序所得的各项质量、翼面积、展长和翼载荷等均与实际数据相近;各项数据对比的绝对数值差异反映出对于任务的模拟和能耗在合理范围之内,且其相对误差对于初级设计阶段的总体参数评估而言,也是可以接受的。这些研究结果不仅验证了本文设计方法的正确性和可行性,还表明了该方法可为电动飞机初步的参数选定和性能评估提供重要的设计支撑。      

Motor drive technologies for the Power-By-Wire (PBW) program:options, trends and tradeoffs. II. Power electronic converters anddevices

For pt. I see ibid., vol. 10, pp. 37-41 (1995). This is the second of two papers on the motor drive technology options for the Power-By-Wire (PBW). The organization of this paper is based on the four components of the electrical actuator (EA) system and the options available to suit the PBW program as given in the PBW studies. The first paper discussed the options available for the motor and the controller parts of a drive. This paper discusses the power electronic converter and device options. The power converter options are divided into hard-, snubbered- and soft-switching converters. The power device options are the MOSFET, the Insulated Gate Transistor (IGT), the gate turn-off thyristor (GTO) and the MOS Controlled Thyristor (MCT)     

Recent developments of electric vehicles and their propulsionsystems

Major recent electric vehicle (EV) programs in North America, Europe, and Japan are reviewed. The developments discussed include electric vehicles for fleet operation and electric passenger cars for urban transit. All major auto makers have had their own concept electric vehicle programs, targeted at commercial production in the late 1990s. It Is noted that, with different objectives for various electric vehicles, considerations such as cost, reliability, efficiency, maintenance, durability, weight, size, and noise level should be compromised for the propulsion system design. Consequently, DC motor drives, induction motor drives, and permanent magnet brushless DC motor drives will continually be used for EV propulsion systems in the future, with DC drives being gradually replaced by AC drives. The rapid advances in power semiconductor devices and microprocessors have made it possible to build reliable and cost-effective AC drive systems     

同步发电机整流系统带恒功率负载的稳定性分析

 在现代飞行器电源系统负载中,功率变换器和电动机驱动装置大量增加,所表现出的负阻抗特性对系统稳定性产生十分重要的影响。采用状态空间平均法对同步发电机整流系统带恒功率负载(CPL)的稳定性进行了分析研究。建立了同步发电机整流系统同时带阻性负载和恒功率负载时的小信号数学模型,通过讨论负载参数对系统稳定性的影响,得到系统带恒功率负载时的极限值和稳定工作区域,所设计的串联校正环节在一定程度上改善系统响应快速性的同时,使系统的相角裕度增加了53°,有效地提高了系统的稳定性。     

Flight Safety Issues of an All-Electric Aircraft

Flight safety issues of an all-electric aircraft include flight control system reliability, protection from electromagnetic interference and lightning, and protection from design errors (primarily in software) and handling qualities when failures occur if the all-electric aircraft does not have traditional aerodynamic stability. Some of these questions already have partial answers, but others remain open. The Federal Aviation Administration expects that discussions with experts in the aviation industry, the military services, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and foreign regulatory authorities for civil aircraft will be necessary to resolve these issues.     

Potential starter/generator technology for future aerospaceapplication

This paper presents a search and comparative review of the literature available on variable speed constant frequency (VSCF) technologies. In particular, most of the progress made in the past ten years, using power electronics and electric machines for VSCF systems is reported. Two VSCF systems, based on induction and switched reluctance machine technologies, are presented. The research on the singly- and doubly-fed induction machines has focused on VSCF for wind power generation; whereas, that on switched reluctance machines has been directly studied as a VSCF technology in aircraft system. Results obtained so far favor the switched reluctance machine over the induction machine. Based on the foregoing comparative review, it is recommended that the induction machine be fully investigated as a VSCF drive in aircraft system. The findings should then be compared with the counterpart SRM system. Issues of comparison may include fault tolerance and redundancy, power density, torque requirements, overload ratings, temperature range and cooling, efficiency and stability over expected operating speed range     

A novel integrated self-powered brake system for more electric aircraft

Traditional hydraulic brake systems require a complex system of pipelines between an aircraft engine driven pump (EDP) and brake actuators, which increases the weight of the aircraft and may even cause serious vibration and leakage problems. In order to improve the reliability and safety of more electric aircraft (MEA), this paper proposes a new integrated self-powered brake system (ISBS) for MEA. It uses a hydraulic pump geared to the main wheel to recover a small part of the kinetic energy of a landing aircraft. The recovered energy then serves as the hydraulic power supply for brake actuators. It does not require additional hydraulic source, thus removing the pipelines between an EDP and brake actuators. In addition, its self-powered characteristic makes it possible to brake as usual even in an emergency situation when the airborne power is lost. This paper introduces the working principle of the ISBS and presents a prototype. The mathematical models of a taxiing aircraft and the ISBS are established. A feedback linearization control algorithm is designed to fulfill the anti-skid control. Simulations are carried out to verify the feasibility of the ISBS, and experiments are conducted on a ground inertia brake test bench. The ISBS presents a good performance and provides a new potential solution in the field of brake systems for MEA.     

分布式电推进飞机设计技术综述

分布式电推进系统利用电力驱动多个推进器作为飞机的动力装置,在提升飞机气动效率、载运能力、环保性和鲁棒性等方面蕴藏着可供人们挖掘和利用的巨大潜能,被广泛认为是一种航空领域的颠覆性技术。本文在对电动飞机的优势和不足,电推进系统的尺度独立性以及分布式电推进飞机分类进行初步研究之后,重点从飞机工程设计的专业划分角度出发,分别从飞机总体设计、气动设计、结构设计、系统及支持设施设计等学科对分布式电推进飞机设计技术的研究情况和学术进展进行综述。随着电池能量密度、电机及控制器功率密度的不断提升以及相关机载电气设备的小型化和轻量化,分布式电推进通用飞机基本具备按需航空市场化能力,尽管仍存在一些挑战,但该技术为未来飞机设计提供了更多的权衡空间与可能性。     

DIMA架构下飞机全电刹车系统故障传播行为分析与评估

在DIMA平台开放性体系架构的背景下,飞机航电与机电等系统功能逐渐渗透融合,面向DIMA架构的全电刹车系统是未来飞机刹车系统的主流设计趋势,但目前尚未形成针对DIMA架构下全电刹车系统的故障传播行为分析与评估方法。针对上述问题,首先结合DIMA架构特征和全电刹车相关标准,分析面向DIMA架构下的全电刹车系统分层架构,在此基础上构建全电刹车系统任务-功能-资源层次模型。其次,考虑到DIMA平台资源共享的特点,结合系统层次模型开展系统耦合关联分析,引入Floyd算法计算间接耦合矩阵以及路由矩阵,通过构造失效严重程度矩阵量化系统关联耦合度,建立系统故障传播结构模型,综合考虑故障路径传播概率和系统边缘介数,构建DIMA架构下全电刹车系统故障传播强度模型,以识别系统故障传播关键路径,完成故障传播行为分析与评估。最后通过实例分析,以验证所提方法的正确性与合理性。     

飞机用开关磁阻起动/发电系统负载影响研究

组合起动/发电(IS/G)系统是多/全电飞机(M/A EA)的关键子系统,而开关磁阻电机(SRM)被认为是实现飞机IS/G系统的首选机型。研究了负载对开关磁阻起动/发电(SR S/G)系统电能质量及稳定性的影响。针对多电飞机电气系统的特点,所涉及的负载被划分为三类:传统负载、特殊负载和恒功率负载,给出了突加、突卸负载时SRM的输出电压和相电流曲线。同时,对恒功率负载下系统的稳定性进行了理论分析和仿真验证。     

Comparison of AC drives for electric vehicles-a report on experts'opinion survey

It is recognized that wide applications of electric vehicles (EVs) will bring tremendous social, economical and ecological benefits. With the growing interests in electric vehicles, much effort is demanded for the development of efficient, reliable and economical AC drives' for EV propulsion purpose. Both induction motor (IM) drives and permanent magnet brushless DC motor (IM) drives have been applied to EVs. Switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives have been proposed as an alternative for EV propulsion. In order to assess the suitability of IM, BDCM and SRM drives for EV applications and to provide a technical support for the development and selection of future EV propulsion systems, the existing EV AC propulsion drives were compared, and a survey of experts' opinions was conducted. Comparison of the three AC drives was made on a relative and a quantitative basis using the survey questionnaires. According to the majority of the experts, induction motor drives are best suited for EV propulsion purpose, due to their low cost, high reliability, high speed, established converter and manufacturing technology, low torque ripple/noise and absence of position sensors. BDCM drives feature compactness, low weight and high efficiency and therefore provide an alternative for EV propulsion. The experts regard insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) as the most suited power semiconductor devices for AC drive converters at the present stage     

Potential starter/generator technologies for future aerospaceapplications

This paper presents a search and comparative review of the literature available on variable speed constant frequency (VSCF) technologies. In particular, most of the progress made in the past ten years, using power electronics and electric machines for VSCF systems, is reported. Two VSCF systems, based on induction and switched reluctance machine technologies are presented. The research on the singly- and doubly-fed induction machines has focused on VSCF for wind power generation, whereas that on switched reluctance machines has been directly studied as a VSCF technology in aircraft systems. Results obtained so far favor the switched reluctance machine over the induction machine. Based on the foregoing comparative review, it is recommended that the induction machine be fully investigated as a VSCF drive for aircraft systems. The findings should then be compared with the counterpart SRM system. Issues of comparison may include fault tolerance and redundancy, power density, torque requirements, overload ratings, temperature range and cooling, efficiency and stability over expected operating speed range     

电气化飞机电力系统智能化设计研究综述

能源危机和环境问题推动了绿色航空的发展,飞机电气化是绿色航空的主要实现手段,已经成为航空技术发展的重要方向。本文介绍了飞机电气化的发展历程,阐述了电气化飞机电力系统的关键技术及其研究现状,分析了先进飞机电力系统设计的关键技术,指出了飞机电力系统综合化、智能化的发展特点。在分析飞机电力系统设计存在的问题的基础上,文章初步提出了电气化飞机电力系统智能化设计平台的理论框架、功能和特点,分析了支撑电力系统智能化设计平台的关键技术,指出了航空智能化设计的研究方向。     

智能材料和结构在变体飞行器上的应用现状与前景展望简

 变体飞行器可以根据不同的飞行条件改变自身形状以获得最优的气动性能,大大提高飞行器的综合性能,是未来飞行器发展的重要方向之一。新型智能材料和结构具有驱动、变形、承载、传感等特点,为变体飞行器的设计提供了新的技术途径。本文根据不同可变形机翼结构分类,详细阐述了智能材料和结构在自适应结构、智能驱动器和变形蒙皮等方面的研究现状。变体飞行器的实现亟需解决变形/承载一体化蒙皮技术、轻质大输出力驱动器技术和自适应结构技术等关键技术,本文还对智能材料和结构未来在变体飞行器上的应用前景进行了展望。