Control of DC Power Distribution System of a Hybrid Electric Aircraft with Inherent Overcurrent Protection
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This is a repository copy of Control of DC power distribution system of a hybrid electric aircraft with inherent overcurrent protection. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/136884/ Version: Accepted Version Proceedings Paper: Braitor, A. orcid.org/0000-0002-7666-0457, Mills, A.R., Kadirkamanathan, V. et al. (3 more authors) (2019) Control of DC power distribution system of a hybrid electric aircraft with inherent overcurrent protection. In: 2018 IEEE International Conference on Electrical Systems for Aircraft, Railway, Ship Propulsion and Road Vehicles & International Transportation Electrification Conference (ESARS-ITEC). 2018 IEEE International Conference on Electrical Systems for Aircraft, Railway, Ship Propulsion and Road Vehicles & International Transportation Electrification Conference (ESARS-ITEC), 07-09 Nov 2018, Nottingham, UK. IEEE . ISBN 978-1-5386-4192-7 https://doi.org/10.1109/ESARS-ITEC.2018.8607779 © 2018 IEEE. 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Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ 1 Control of DC power distribution system of a hybrid electric aircraft with inherent overcurrent protection A-C. Braitor, A.R. Mills, V.Kadirkamanathan P.J.Norman and C.E. Jones and G.C. Konstantopoulos Dept. Electronic and Electrical Engineering Dept. Automatic Control and Systems Engineering University of Strathclyde The University of Sheffield Glasgow, UK Sheffield, UK {patrick.norman,catherine.e.jones}@strath.ac.uk {abraitor1,a.r.mills,visakan,g.konstantopoulos}@sheffield.ac.uk Abstract—In this paper, a novel nonlinear control scheme for been proposed in [4], [5]. A cascaded control structure with the on-board DC micro-grid of a hybrid electric aircraft is an outer loop has been adopted in [6] to prevent instabilities in proposed to achieve voltage regulation of the low voltage (LV) the case of small output filters. Thus, overall system stability bus and power sharing among multiple sources. Considering the accurate nonlinear dynamic model of each DC/DC converter in needs to be guaranteed by the sources that operate in parallel the DC power distribution system, it is mathematically proven with a simulataneous tight control of the voltage bus. The that accurate power sharing can be achieved with an inherent most common employed technique for regulating the voltage overcurrent limitation for each converter separately via the of DC/DC converters uses traditional single or cascaded PI proposed control design using Lyapunov stability theory. The controllers [7], [8]. Based on linearization and the small- proposed framework is based on the idea of introducing a constant virtual resistance at the input of each converter and signal model of the converter, traditional PI controllers can be a virtual controllable voltage that can be either positive or designed to ensure local stability of the desired equilibrium negative, leading to a bidirectional power flow. Compared to point. However, the nonlinear dynamics of the converter existing control strategies for on-board DC micro-grid systems, indicate a need for advanced control strategies that can be the proposed controller guarantees accurate power sharing, tight applied directly to the nonlinear model of the system, such as voltage regulation and an upper limit of each source’s current at all times, including during transient phenomena. Simulation sliding control [9], [10] or passivity-based control [11], [12]. results of the LV dynamics of an aircraft on-board DC micro-grid Such control strategies can guarantee nonlinear closed-loop are presented to verify the proposed controller performance in stability based on strong mathematical background; however, terms of voltage regulation, power sharing and the overcurrent in most cases they require global information of the system or protection capability. load parameters that may change during the system operation. The main challenges and problems of an on-board HEA I. INTRODUCTION DC-based system are the voltage stability and regulation, the N the last few years, the hybrid electric aircraft initiative power flow management and power sharing and the highly I to combine conventional and electrical systems in aircrafts dynamic characteristics of the network [13]. Since modern has significantly increased. This has stemmed from the need to load types introduce complex nonlinear dynamics that can improve efficiency and reliability [1], and to reduce emissions complicate the existing system nonlinearities and increase and lifetime operating costs of the aircraft. More recent the number of states of the overall system, there is a clear models, such as Boeing 787 and the Airbus A380 [2], [3], interest in designing more advanced controllers that can act have more electrical power components installed compared to independently from the system parameters and can also ensure older models, and this trend is expected to increase further stable operation of the converter at all times. Particularly, in the future. As a result, a reliable and resilient power an overcurrent protection that limits the inductor current distribution system in an aircraft is of major importance and below a given value is of critical importance to protect the since it represents an isolated system with generators, power converter during fast transients or unrealistic power demands. converters and loads, it can be regarded as an on-board micro- The occurence of transients is very common, since the dc/dc grid system, often of DC nature. Hence, with increased on- converters operate with high switching frequencies to increase board power generation, the challenge of controlling and the power density. Furthermore, it is known that the switch- managing multiple sources that meet the increasing demand ing frequency is proportional to the partial discharge [14]. in the power distribution system arises. Therefore, to mitigate these effects, a defined range for the On-board DC micro-grids with enhanced reliability that do switching frequency is usually selected for aircraft applications not use communication among the units, often operate in a [15], [16], [17]. distributed control manner where the control method for each Even during fast transients, the current limitation, as defined unit is based on the available local variables. Control methods in [18], [19], can protect equipment without violating the employed in aircraft applications that do not require commu- boundaries set by the technical specifications of the converters. nication links but rely on optimization techniques have also Despite the converter being protected by protection devices 2 EXT EXT each converter in Section IV. Simulation results of the on- PWR PWR board DC power distribution system are shown in Section V SSB HV BUS HV BUS and, finally, the conclusions are drawn in Section VI. BTB BTB APU BTB BTB GEN DC DC LOAD ONLINEAR MODEL OF THE ONBOARD AC DC AC II. N LV DC DC DC LOAD DC AC AC MICRO-GRID G LV BUS G In Fig. 1, a candidate on-board DC-based micro-grid archi- G G tecture for a hybrid electric aircraft is shown, represented by DC DC DC DC various types of sources connected in parallel to a common DC bus, interfaced by DC/DC and AC/DC power converters. FUEL CELL BATTERY This paper is focused on the control of the low voltage (LV) DC side of the network, which is the highlighted part in Fig. 1, and includes the integration of the LV with the high Figure 1. Typical topology of an on-board DC micro-grid of a hybrid electric aircraft voltage (HV) bus, a battery and a fuel cell unit. In Fig. 2, the detailed LV DC configuration of the on-board DC micro-grid system is depicted consisting of two DC/DC boost converters (e.g. additional fuses, circuit breakers and protection relays), (one unidirectional and one bidirectional) connected in parallel there is ongoing desire towards guaranteeing overcurrent and feeding a common low-voltage (LV) load, and another protection via the control design [20]. Existing traditional bidirectional boost converter that feeds a HV load and links strategies can effectively change the original control structure the LV bus with the HV bus. Using Kirchhoff laws and to the overcurrent protection control structure [21]. However, average analysis [23], the dynamic model of the entire system since closed-loop stability cannot be analytically proven, the that includes the nonlinear behaviour of the boost converters initiative to design a control structure suitable for all the becomes aforementioned tasks is still of significance. ˙ LFC iLFC = UFC − (1 − uFC ) VFC (1) A nonlinear control scheme that acts regardless of the sys- C V˙ = (1 − u ) i − i (2) tem and load parameters is proposed in this paper to guarantee FC FC FC LFC outFC ˙ voltage regulation and power sharing with an overcurrent LBAT iLBAT = UBAT − (1 − uBAT ) VBAT (3) ˙ protection for both unidirectional and bidirectional boost con- CBAT VBAT = (1 − uBAT ) iLBAT − ioutBAT (4) verters for a hybrid electric aircraft on-board DC micro-grid.