Innovative driving scheme for electrical generators in more electric aircrafts employing series active filtering

As more electrification of the future aircrafts becomes a trend, more electric functions, such as the Starter/Generator (S/G) that are incorporated in the More Electric Aircrafts (MEA) concept, increase the need for electrical power systems with high power supply capabilities, facilitating both motor (starter) and generator operation. Under this light, an innovative driving scheme for electrical generators in MEA that employs series active filtering (SAF) is proposed in this paper, to impose the desired output current in the dc microgrid (DCMG) of the MEA, thus facilitating the multi-operating-point range capability of the machine drive. The proposed SAF-based system that facilitates the incorporation of multiple energy storage units (ESUs) constitutes a robust S/G solution that serves this double-mode operation requirement (set by the specific application), along with the wide set point range necessity of the power generation mode. Moreover, an appropriately developed Design Tool allows for the selection of the optimal SAF parameters, according to the DCMG and the machine drive specifications, facilitating high performance and reliability of the proposed drive unit. The developed S/G driving scheme is verified through MATLAB/Simulink simulations and, additionally, the performance of the power generation control of the system under study is evaluated via real-time control hardware in-the-loop (CHIL) tests, with the use of a dedicated microcontroller (dsPIC30f4011) and dSPACE 1202 (MicroLabBox) platform.