Control of Energy Storage Systems for Aeronautic Applications

Future aircraft will make more and more use of automated electric power system management onboard. Different solutions are currently being explored, and in particular the use of a supercapacitor as an intelligent energy storage device is addressed in this paper. The main task of the supercapacitor is to protect the electric generator from abrupt power changes resulting from sudden insertion or disconnection of loads or from loads with regenerative power capabilities, like electromagnetic actuators. A controller based on high-gain concepts is designed to drive a DC/DC converter connecting the supercapacitor to the main electric bus. Formal stability proofs are given for the resulting nonlinear system, and strong robustness results from the use of high-gain and variable structure control implementation. Moreover, detailed simulations including switching devices and electrical parasitic elements are provided for different working scenarios, showing the effectiveness of the proposed solution

Computational needs survey of NASA automation and robotics missions. Volume 1: Survey and results

NASA's operational use of advanced processor technology in space systems lags behind its commercial development by more than eight years. One of the factors contributing to this is that mission computing requirements are frequently unknown, unstated, misrepresented, or simply not available in a timely manner. NASA must provide clear common requirements to make better use of available technology, to cut development lead time on deployable architectures, and to increase the utilization of new technology. A preliminary set of advanced mission computational processing requirements of automation and robotics (A&R) systems are provided for use by NASA, industry, and academic communities. These results were obtained in an assessment of the computational needs of current projects throughout NASA. The high percent of responses indicated a general need for enhanced computational capabilities beyond the currently available 80386 and 68020 processor technology. Because of the need for faster processors and more memory, 90 percent of the polled automation projects have reduced or will reduce the scope of their implementation capabilities. The requirements are presented with respect to their targeted environment, identifying the applications required, system performance levels necessary to support them, and the degree to which they are met with typical programmatic constraints. Volume one includes the survey and results. Volume two contains the appendixes

Model inversion of electrical engineering systems from bicausal bond graphs

In this paper, the application of bicausal bond graphs for model inversion of typical electrical engineering systems is emphasised. Inverse models are particularly useful for the synthesis step of the system design process. To illustrate these issues, a typical railway traction device and an Aeronautic Electro Hydrostatic Actuator are considered as case studies. From the requirements applied to the system outputs, we show how the synthesis of electrical constraints can be carried out from the inverse bicausal Bond Graph

Structural Batteries for Aeronautic Applications—State of the Art, Research Gaps and Technology Development Needs

Radical innovations for all aircraft systems and subsystems are needed for realizing future carbon-neutral aircraft, with hybrid-electric aircraft due to be delivered after 2035, initially in the regional aircraft segment of the industry. Electrical energy storage is one key element here, demanding safe, energy-dense, lightweight technologies. Combining load-bearing with energy storage capabilities to create multifunctional structural batteries is a promising way to minimize the detrimental impact of battery weight on the aircraft. However, despite the various concepts developed in recent years, their viability has been demonstrated mostly at the material or coupon level, leaving many open questions concerning their applicability to structural elements of a relevant size for implementation into the airframe. This review aims at providing an overview of recent approaches for structural batteries, assessing their multifunctional performance, and identifying gaps in technology development toward their introduction for commercial aeronautic applications. The main areas where substantial progress needs to be achieved are materials, for better energy storage capabilities; structural integration and aircraft design, for optimizing the mechanical-electrical performance and lifetime; aeronautically compatible manufacturing techniques; and the testing and monitoring of multifunctional structures. Finally, structural batteries will introduce novel aspects to the certification framework

Energy harvesting technologies for structural health monitoring of airplane components - a review

With the aim of increasing the efficiency of maintenance and fuel usage in airplanes, structural health monitoring (SHM) of critical composite structures is increasingly expected and required. The optimized usage of this concept is subject of intensive work in the framework of the EU COST Action CA18203 "Optimising Design for Inspection" (ODIN). In this context, a thorough review of a broad range of energy harvesting (EH) technologies to be potentially used as power sources for the acoustic emission and guided wave propagation sensors of the considered SHM systems, as well as for the respective data elaboration and wireless communication modules, is provided in this work. EH devices based on the usage of kinetic energy, thermal gradients, solar radiation, airflow, and other viable energy sources, proposed so far in the literature, are thus described with a critical review of the respective specific power levels, of their potential placement on airplanes, as well as the consequently necessary power management architectures. The guidelines provided for the selection of the most appropriate EH and power management technologies create the preconditions to develop a new class of autonomous sensor nodes for the in-process, non-destructive SHM of airplane components.The work of S. Zelenika, P. Gljušcic, E. Kamenar and Ž. Vrcan is partly enabled by using the equipment funded via the EU European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) project no. RC.2.2.06-0001: “Research Infrastructure for Campus-based Laboratories at the University of Rijeka (RISK)” and partly supported by the University of Rijeka, Croatia, project uniri-tehnic-18-32 „Advanced mechatronics devices for smart technological solutions“. Z. Hadas, P. Tofel and O. Ševecek acknowledge the support provided via the Czech Science Foundation project GA19-17457S „Manufacturing and analysis of flexible piezoelectric layers for smart engineering”. J. Hlinka, F. Ksica and O. Rubes gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the ESIF, EU Operational Programme Research, Development and Education within the research project Center of Advanced Aerospace Technology (Reg. No.: CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000826) at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology. V. Pakrashi would like to acknowledge UCD Energy Institute, Marine and Renewable Energy Ireland (MaREI) centre Ireland, Strengthening Infrastructure Risk Assessment in the Atlantic Area (SIRMA) Grant No. EAPA\826/2018, EU INTERREG Atlantic Area and Aquaculture Operations with Reliable Flexible Shielding Technologies for Prevention of Infestation in Offshore and Coastal Areas (FLEXAQUA), MarTera Era-Net cofund PBA/BIO/18/02 projects. The work of J.P.B. Silva is partially supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Funding UIDB/FIS/04650/2020. M. Mrlik gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic-DKRVO (RP/CPS/2020/003

Key technologies of active power filter for aircraft: a review

Active Power Filter (APF) is not only an advanced technology to improve power quality and purify power system pollution but also a good approach to solve electrical problems of an advanced aircraft such as harmonic, reactive power and unbalanced load. However, there are still some specific problems for the application of aeronautic APF in practice. Based on current research on aeronautic APF, this paper reviews three key technologies where APF can be used in aircraft AC power supply system, including the acquisition method of reference current, the strategy of APF current control and the main circuit topology.  Consecutively, the features of current aeronautic APF research are summarized, and the future research directions are also suggested

Systemic design of multidisciplinary electrical energy devices: a pedagogical approach

In this paper, we present a complete educative project for illustrating the design and the analysis of hybrid electrical systems. It is based on the study of an ElectroHydrostatic Actuator for flight control application, fed by a power supply associating a PEM fuel cell with a ultracapacitor storage. This system is controlled to achieve a typical energy management strategy of this multi source structure. Step by step, student can faces typical issues relative to the design of heterogenous and multidisciplinary devices by achieving eight pedagogical objectives. These eight targets are focused on methodological approach for multi domain modelling (Bond Graphs), causal analysis, but also on simulation of complex heterogeneous systems. A typical hybrid system feeding an ElectroHydrostatic Actuator (EHA) for flight control application has to be designed which drives students towards other pedagogical objectives: system based device sizing (fuel cell and ultracapacitor), energy management, system analysis

Factors influencing fuel cell life and a method of assessment for state of health

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDProton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) converts chemical energy from the electrochemical reaction of oxygen and hydrogen into electrical while emitting heat, oxygen depleted air (ODA) and water as by-products. The by-products have useful functions in aircrafts, such as heat that can be used for ice prevention, deoxygenated air for fire retardation and drinkable water for use on board. Consequently, the PEMFC is also studied to optimize recovery of the useful products. Despite the progress made, durability and reliability remain key challenges to the fuel cell technology. One of the reasons for this is the limited understanding of PEMFC behaviour in the aeronautic environment. The aim of this thesis was to define a comprehensive non-intrusive diagnostic technique that provides real time diagnostics on the PEMFC State of Health (SoH). The framework of the study involved determining factors that have direct influence on fuel cell life in aeronautic environment through a literature survey, examining the effects of the factors by subjecting the PEMFC to simulated conditions, establishing measurable parameters reflective of the factors and defining the diagnostic tool based on literature review and this thesis finding

Electrical conductivity of carbon nanofiber reinforced resins: potentiality of Tunneling Atomic Force Microscopy (TUNA) technique

Epoxy nanocomposites able to meet pressing industrial requirements in the field of structural material have been developed and characterized. Tunneling Atomic Force Microscopy (TUNA), which is able to detect ultra-low currents ranging from 80 fA to 120 pA, was used to correlate the local topography with electrical properties of tetraglycidyl methylene dianiline (TGMDA) epoxy nanocomposites at low concentration of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) ranging from 0.05% up to 2% by wt. The results show the unique capability of TUNA technique in identifying conductive pathways in CNF/resins even without modifying the morphology with usual treatments employed to create electrical contacts to the ground