Rechargeable Battery-Integrated Islanded Grid Architectures for Highly Electrified Aircraft

Kurzfassung

Future highly electrified aircraft require electrical power systems capable of supplying increasing on-board electrical loads while meeting stringent safety and reliability requirements. Battery-integrated islanded grids offer potential advantages by electrically separating propulsion and safety-critical on-board systems. However, the required battery capacity represents a major limitation, particularly for long-range aircraft. In-flight recharging can extend the applicability of islanded grid architectures to long-range aircraft while potentially reducing the installed battery capacity and associated mass in short- and medium-range applications.

This paper presents different rechargeable battery-integrated islanded grid architectures that enable selective battery charging while maintaining the separation between propulsion-side generation and safety-critical on-board loads. Different switching and distribution concepts are proposed, ranging from sequential charging to flexible battery module assignment. Furthermore, controlled battery-based energy exchange between neighboring islanded grids is introduced through dedicated supply interfaces. Reconfigurable battery systems are considered as an enabling technology for fault isolation, voltage adaptation and operational flexibility.

The proposed architectures maintain generator-load separation during the intended operating states and offer potential benefits regarding fault containment, redundancy requirements and system integration. The concepts and their architectural implications are discussed qualitatively.