Multi-Electric Aero Engine Control and Hardware-in-the-Loop Verification with Starter Generator Coordination

Abstract

The starter generator, characterized by controllable starting torque and disturbance in generator load torque, poses challenges for the multi-electric aero engine control. The key to addressing this issue lies in multi-electric aero engine control with the collaboration of a starter generator. Firstly, a multi-electric aero engine model is established, comprising a full-state turbofan engine model to enhance low-speed simulation capability and an external characteristic model of a starter generator to improve real-time simulation capability. Subsequently, the control methods for a multi-electric aero engine with starter generator coordination are proposed in three processes, including the starting process, acceleration/deceleration process, and steady-state process. During the starting process, the acceleration is controlled by coordinating the torque of the starter generator and the fuel of the aero engine. During the acceleration/deceleration process, the fuel limit value is adjusted based on the electrical load of the starter generator. During the steady-state process, the fuel is compensated based on the q-axis current of the starting generator in response to load torque disturbance. Finally, hardware-in-the-loop simulation experiments are conducted for the control of a multi-electric aero engine. The results show that the coordination reduces the oscillation of the acceleration during the startup of a multi-electric aero engine, enhancing its ability to resist disturbances from electrical load fluctuations during power generation.