Development of an Aircraft Electric Power Architecture With Integrated Ground Power Unit

Abstract

This article presents a switch-mode rectifier-based electric power architecture with an integrated ground power unit for more electric aircraft. The well-regulated high-voltage dc-bus is established from the aircraft generator. And the conventional major 270-Vdc, 28-Vdc, and 115-Vac/400-Hz buses are also preserved. In landed conditions, the ground power unit function powered by the mains is inherently possessed thanks to the proposed integrated schematic. First, the developed switch-mode rectifier using a silicon-carbide device with a wide frequency range covering utility line frequency and aircraft generated varied high frequency is presented. The allowable energy storage inductances using the embedded generator armature winding are derived. Good generator armature power quality and well-regulated dc output voltage are preserved by the designed current and voltage control schemes. Next, the utility grid-powered ground power unit established by the embedded schematic is introduced. Finally, the inverter for generating the 115-Vac/400-Hz three-phase source and the dc–dc converter for establishing the 270-Vdc bus are constructed. Normal operations, good dynamic, and steady-state performances of all the constructed power stages are verified experimentally, which can confirm the feasibility of the proposed aircraft power architecture.