Understanding the impact of failure modes of cables for the design of turbo-electric distributed propulsion electrical power systems.

The turbo-electric distributed propulsion (TeDP) concept has been proposed to enable future aircraft to meet ambitious, environmental targets as demand for air travel increases. In order to maximize the benefits of TeDP, the use of high temperature superconductors (HTS) has been proposed. Despite being an enabling technology for many future concepts, the use of superconductors in electrical power systems is still in the early stages of development. Hence their impact on system performance, in particular system transients, such as electrical faults or load changes, is poorly understood. Such an understanding is critical for the development of an appropriate electrical protection system for TeDP. Therefore, in order to enable appropriate protection strategies to be developed for TeDP electrical networks an understanding of how electrical faults will propagate in superconducting materials is required. An understanding of how technologies that utilize these materials may experience failure modes in ways that are uncharacteristic of their conventional counterparts is also needed. This paper presents a dynamic electrical – thermal model of a superconducting cable, at an appropriate level of fidelity for electrical power system studies, which enables the investigation of failure modes of cables. This includes the impact of designing fault tolerant cables on the electrical power system as a whole to be considered

Fault management strategies and architecture design for turboelectric distributed propulsion

The TeDP concept has been presented as a possible solution to reduce aircraft emissions despite the continuing trend for increased air traffic. However, much of the benefit of this concept hinges on the reliable transfer of electrical power from the generators to the electrical motor driven propulsors. Protection and fault management of the electrical transmission and distribution network is crucial to ensure flight safety and to maintain the integrity of the electrical components on board. Therefore a robust fault management strategy is required. With consideration of the aerospace-specific application, the fault management strategy must be efficient, of minimal weight and be capable of a quick response to off-nominal conditions. This paper investigates how the TeDP architecture designs are likely to be driven by the development of appropriate fault management strategies

Integral-field studies of the high-redshift Universe

We present results from a new method of exploring the distant Universe. We use 3-D spectroscopy to sample a large cosmological volume at a time when the Universe was less than 3 billion years old to investigate the evolution of star-formation activity. Within this study we also discovered a high redshift type-II quasar which would not have been identified with imaging studies alone. This highlights the crucial role that integral-field spectroscopy may play in surveying the distant Universe in the future.Comment: From proceedings of Euro3D Spectroscopy annual RTN network meeting (ed. J. Walsh). 5 pages, accepted for publication in Astron. Nach

A pre-design sensitivity analysis tool for consideration of full electrical aircraft propulsion electrical power system architectures

Turbo-electric distributed power (TeDP) systems proposed for hybrid wing body (HWB) N3-X aircraft are complex, superconducting electrical networks, which must be developed to meet challenging weight, efficiency and propulsor power requirements. An integrated system sensitivity analysis tool is presented, which can be used to support rapid appraisal studies of architectures, protection systems and redundancy requirements for TeDP systems. The use of this tool can help direct future research on TeDP systems towards the key challenges relevant to meeting the stringent weight and efficiency targets set out for N+3 aircraft concepts

Control of DC power distribution system of a hybrid electric aircraft with inherent overcurrent protection

In this paper, a novel nonlinear control scheme for the on-board DC micro-grid of a hybrid electric aircraft is proposed to achieve voltage regulation of the low voltage (LV) bus and power sharing among multiple sources. Considering the accurate nonlinear dynamic model of each DC/DC converter in the DC power distribution system, it is mathematically proven that accurate power sharing can be achieved with an inherent overcurrent limitation for each converter separately via the proposed control design using Lyapunov stability theory. The proposed framework is based on the idea of introducing a constant virtual resistance at the input of each converter and a virtual controllable voltage that can be either positive or negative, leading to a bidirectional power flow. Compared to existing control strategies for on-board DC micro-grid systems, the proposed controller guarantees accurate power sharing, tight voltage regulation and an upper limit of each source's current at all times, including during transient phenomena. Simulation results of the LV dynamics of an aircraft on-board DC micro-grid are presented to verify the proposed controller performance in terms of voltage regulation, power sharing and the overcurrent protection capability

Control of DC power distribution system of a hybrid electric aircraft with inherent overcurrent protection

In this paper, a novel nonlinear control scheme for the on-board DC micro-grid of a hybrid electric aircraft is proposed to achieve voltage regulation of the low voltage (LV) bus and power sharing among multiple sources. Considering the accurate nonlinear dynamic model of each DC/DC converter in the DC power distribution system, it is mathematically proven that accurate power sharing can be achieved with an inherent overcurrent limitation for each converter separately via the proposed control design using Lyapunov stability theory. The proposed framework is based on the idea of introducing a constant virtual resistance at the input of each converter and a virtual controllable voltage that can be either positive or negative, leading to a bidirectional power flow. Compared to existing control strategies for on-board DC micro-grid systems, the proposed controller guarantees accurate power sharing, tight voltage regulation and an upper limit of each source's current at all times, including during transient phenomena. Simulation results of the LV dynamics of an aircraft on-board DC micro-grid are presented to verify the proposed controller performance in terms of voltage regulation, power sharing and the overcurrent protection capability

Modelling the impact of ground planes on aircraft transmission cable impedance

With the recent movement in the aircraft industry to have a more electric based secondary power system, new challenges are being uncovered, particularly with the electrical wiring interconnect system. These systems and their insulation are expected to be exposed to significantly higher voltage and frequency stresses. Complicating matters, aircraft power transmission cables are often unshielded, yet are located in close proximity to a ground plane due to the aircraft metallic structure. Electromagnetic interactions between the two in this environment are poorly understood, particularly with respect to how the cable impedance changes for higher frequency signals. Using finite element analysis (FEA), this paper investigates how field stress conditions for high frequency components change as the cable-ground distance changes. A wider discussion of the impact of the mapped behavior on future aircraft electrical wiring design and airframe integration will also be presented. Findings demonstrate that despite cable-ground plane distance being within the standard limits, the cable characteristics can still significantly change, with a 3 cm distance leading to a 15% change in impedance

Thermal Conductivity Anisotropy in Superconducting UPt3UPt_3

Recent thermal conductivity measurements on $UPt_3$ single crystals by Lussier et al. indicate the existence of a strong b--c anisotropy in the superconducting state. We calculate the thermal conductivity in various unconventional candidate states appropriate for the $UPt_3$ ``B phase" and compare with experiment, specifically the $E_{2u}$ and $E_{1g}$ $(1,i)$ states predicted in some Ginzburg-Landau analyses of the phase diagram. For the simplest realizations of these states over spherical or ellipsoidal Fermi surfaces, the normalized $E_{2u}$ conductivity is found, surprisingly, to be completely isotropic. We discuss the effects of inelastic scattering and realistic Fermi surface anisotropy, and deduce constraints on the symmetry class of the $UPt_3$ ground state.Comment: 4 postscript pages, UFL102

Absence of Persistent Magnetic Oscillations in Type-II Superconductors

We report on a numerical study intended to examine the possibility that magnetic oscillations persist in type II superconductors beyond the point where the pairing self-energy exceeds the normal state Landau level separation. Our work is based on the self-consistent numerical solution for model superconductors of the Bogoliubov-deGennes equations for the vortex lattice state. In the regime where the pairing self-energy is smaller than the cyclotron energy, magnetic oscillations resulting from Landau level quantization are suppressed by the broadening of quasiparticle Landau levels due to the non-uniform order parameter of the vortex lattice state, and by splittings of the quasiparticle bands. Plausible arguments that the latter effect can lead to a sign change of the fundamental harmonic of the magnetic oscillations when the pairing self-energy is comparable to the cyclotron energy are shown to be flawed. Our calculations indicate that magnetic oscillations are strongly suppressed once the pairing self-energy exceeds the Landau level separation.Comment: 7 pages, revtex, 7 postscript figure

Non-magnetic impurity scattering in a dx2−y2d_{x^2 - y^2} superconductor near a van Hove point: Zn versus Ni in the cuprates

We consider the effect of non-magnetic impurities in a $d_{x^2 - y^2}$ superconductor with \ef close to a van Hove singularity. It is shown that the non-trivial density of states (DOS) allows for resonant scattering already at intermediate potential strengths $|u| \approx 1-2$eV. The residual DOS at \ef, and the \tc suppression rate are found to strongly depend on the carrier concentration. Quantitative agreement with experiments on Zn and Ni doped cuprates is obtained by adjusting a single parameter, $u$.Comment: 4 pages uuencoded compressed Postscript (Minor changes