Successive Linearization in Model-based Control for Thermal Management Systems

Abstract

The increasing electrical and thermal loads on-board of air vehicles, driven largely by the trend of electrification, present a significant challenge to the design and operation of thermal management systems. We propose in this paper a successive linearization algorithm for dynamical model-based control of aircraft thermal management systems. Successive linearization provides a systematic approach to generate linearization trajectories for the nonlinear dynamics by successively solving convex optimization-based optimal control problems. The proposed algorithm overcomes the challenges associated with real-time optimal control for aircraft thermal management system with respect to the nonlinear dynamics where a steady-state linearization trajectory might not capture the actual system dynamics. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique on the control of an aircraft fuel thermal management system example.