Aircraft design is an example of complex engineering where dimensioning tools can be valuable for the designers and decision makers in the early stage of the development process. These tools can be in form of a database over key numbers for different components or technologies. One of the critical parts of an aircraft is the actuator system. Conventional hydraulic actuators are demanding regarding maintenance which implies high operation costs. Therefore in recent years the focus has been set on electro-hydrostatic and electro-mechanical actuators. The aim of this work is to build a platform which can make it easier for designers and decision makers to analyze, compare and optimize different technologies regarding the actuator system. For this reason a simplified quasi-static actuator model, including reactive power consumption has been developed. This model makes it possible to reduce the complexity of the actuator models to such extent that the resulting computional tool can be used for studies of the system performance during entire flight missions and/or for optimization. Power density, cost and weight of the actuator systems are some of the important key numbers for comparing purpose and as a platform for the dimensioning of the aircraft. The ambition is then to build up a database of different actuator solutions with the key technical parameters mentioned above, that can be used in modeling and dimensioning of an aircraft. In order to avoid time consuming finite element calculations when analyzing an electrical machine a reluctance network model can be used. The basic idea of the proposed network model is to divide the rotor and the stator into a grid of small reluctance elements and provide those that correspond to the permanent magnet and the air gap between the magnets with time varying reluctances. The suggested computationally approach constitute a fast way to evaluate permanent magnet electrical machines with the respect to their performance. A preferred electrical machine provided with balance teeth and concentrated windings showed good electromechanical and thermal behavior. A balance tooth is a tooth without winding between each adjacent phases that has a cooling effect on the nearest windings, resulting in less copper losses. The balance teeth increases the voltage-time area, leading to higher induced voltage and higher torque production. Another advantage of the chosen design is its redundancy and fault tolerance capabilities. The machine comprises two independent half machines that also offers a high level of redundancy with two separate power channels. / QC 20100914

More electric aircraft systems, high power avionics, and a reduction in heat sink capacity have placed a larger emphasis on correctly satisfying aircraft thermal management requirements during conceptual design. Thermal management systems must be capable of dealing with these rising heat loads, while simultaneously meeting mission performance. Since all subsystem power and cooling requirements are ultimately traced back to the engine, the growing interactions between the propulsion and thermal management systems are becoming more significant. As a result, it is necessary to consider their integrated performance during the conceptual design of the aircraft gas turbine engine cycle to ensure that thermal requirements are met. This can be accomplished by using thermodynamic modeling and simulation to investigate the subsystem interactions while conducting the necessary design trades to establish the engine cycle. As the foundation for this research, a parsimonious, transparent thermodynamic model of propulsion and thermal management systems performance was created with a focus on capturing the physics that have the largest impact on propulsion design choices. A key aspect of this approach is the incorporation of physics-based formulations involving the concurrent usage of the first and second laws of thermodynamics to achieve a clearer view of the component-level losses. This is facilitated by the direct prediction of the exergy destruction distribution throughout the integrated system and the resulting quantification of available work losses over the time history of the mission. The characterization of the thermodynamic irreversibility distribution helps give the designer an absolute and consistent view of the tradeoffs associated with the design of the system. Consequently, this leads directly to the question of the optimal allocation of irreversibility across each of the components. An irreversibility allocation approach based on the economic concept of resource allocation is demonstrated for a canonical propulsion and thermal management systems architecture. By posing the problem in economic terms, exergy destruction is treated as a true common currency to barter for improved efficiency, cost, and performance. This then enables the propulsion systems designer to better fulfill system-level requirements and to create a system more robust to future requirements.

With the current increased emphasis on the development of energy optimized vehicle systems architectures during the early phases in aircraft conceptual design, accurate predictions of these off-nominal requirements are needed to justify architecture concept selection. A process was developed for capturing architecture specific performance degradation strategies and optimally imposing their associated requirements. This process is enabled by analog extensions to traditional safety design and assessment tools and consists of six phases: Continuous Functional Hazard Assessment, Architecture Definition, Load Shedding Optimization, Analog System Safety Assessment, Architecture Optimization, and Architecture Augmentation. Systematic off-nominal analysis of requirements was performed for dissimilar architecture concepts. It was shown that traditional discrete application of safety and reliability requirements have adverse effects on the prediction of requirements. This design bias was illustrated by cumulative unit importance metrics. Low fidelity representations of the loss/hazard relationship place undue importance on some units and yield under or over-predictions of system performance.

Dans le contexte de l’avion plus électrique, les réseaux électriques aéronautiques sont en pleine évolution. Cette évolution est poussée par le besoin d’une intégration à forte densité énergétique ce qui pose des défis aux concepteurs en termes d’architectures, de systèmes et de méthodes de dimensionnement.Un réseau de bord est composé d’un ensemble de systèmes électriques multidisciplinaire qui proviennent de différents fournisseurs dont le design est actuellement effectué en répondant à des standards de qualité spécifiés par l’agrégateur. L’objectif de la thèse est de proposer de nouvelles approches intégrées qui permettent de gérer la complexité des réseaux électriques tout en convergeant vers un résultat optimal, offrant des gains de masses en référence à un design par des « approches mécanistes » reposant sur un agrégat de boucles d’optimisation locales. Une approche multiniveau a été développée en s’inspirant des travaux sur la MDO « Multidisciplinary Design Optimization ». L’élaboration de cette approche a été le résultat d’une expertise accumulée en appliquant différentes méthodes disponibles dans la bibliographie. L’optimisation porte plus spécifiquement sur les filtres d’entrée des charges du réseau ainsi que sur le filtre de sortie du canal de génération du réseau électrique embarqué. L’optimisation multiniveau vise, dans un contexte collaboratif, à itérer entre le niveau agrégateur (niveau réseau) et le niveau équipementier (charges et source du réseau). L’utilisation d’une formulation agrégée au niveau réseau et le respect des causalités au niveau des sous-problèmes sont les principaux atouts de cette approche qui conduit à des solutions proches de l’optimum global de masse de filtres. / Within more electric aircraft context, electric systems and networks have to evolve. High energy density integration pushes designers to reconsider their systems, architectures and tools.An aircraft network contains a large number of multidisciplinary systems which come from different manufacturers. Each manufacturer designs its system separately following quality standards specified by the aggregator. The goal of this thesis is to provide system approaches which could deal with the high-level of complexity of the network while reaching the optimal design of all the system and so reduce the total weight in comparison with mechanistic approaches based on independent optimization loops for the different subsystems.Consulting MDO “Multidisciplinary Design Optimization” researches, we have developed a multilevel approach based on our previous studies and conclusions on classical approaches used in the design of electrical systems. The optimization concerns the input filters of the loads connected to the HVDC bus and the output filter of the generating channel which supply the electric power. The multilevel collaborative optimization allows an automated exchange of data between the aggregator (system level) and manufacturers (sub-system level) and thanks to that, the optimal design of all the system is joined. The strong points of this approach are the aggregated formulation and causality connections between sub-systems.

Les avantages que présentent les systèmes électriques par rapport aux autres systèmes (mécaniques, hydrauliques et pneumatiques) ont permis d’intensifier l’électrification des systèmes embarqués à bord des aéronefs : c’est le concept d’avion plus électrique. Dans ce contexte, l’approche de conception intégrée par optimisation (CIO) de ces systèmes s’avère aujourd’hui une nécessité pour pouvoir répondre aux exigences en termes d’efficacité énergique, de fiabilité et de masse... Dans cette thèse, nous avons appliqué la CIO à une chaine de conversion électromécanique utilisée dans le système de conditionnement d’air d’un avion. Deux objectifs sont ciblés : la minimisation de la masse du système et l’augmentation de son efficacité énergétique. Ces objectifs sont intégrés à diverses contraintes hétérogènes, allant de la qualité réseau au respect de la mission de vol dans le plan couple – vitesse, en passant par la thermique,… Compte tenu de la complexité du système étudié et de son caractère multidisciplinaire, des approches de conception par optimisation dites « MDO » (pour Multidisciplinary Design Optimization) sont étudiées. En effet, au delà des compétences physiques et techniques, la conception intégrée par optimisation des systèmes complexes nécessite des efforts supplémentaires en termes de méthodologies de conception. Nous avons présenté dans cette thèse trois approches : Approches mono-niveau : séquentielle et globale ; Approche multi-niveaux, couplant niveaux système et niveau constituants (filtre, onduleur, machine) ; des formulations adaptées à notre problème de conception sont présentées afin de résoudre les problèmes liés aux optimisations mono-niveau. Les performances des différentes approches de conception sont présentées analysées et comparées. Les résultats obtenus montrent clairement les avantages que présente la formulation multi-niveaux par rapport aux approches classiques de conception. / The benefits of electrical systems compared to other systems (mechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic) are a serious motivation for the electrification of embedded systems in “more electric aircraft”. In this framework, the integrated optimal design of these systems appears necessary to meet requirements in terms of efficiency, reliability and weight reduction. In this thesis, we have applied the integrated optimal design to an electromechanical system used in the air conditioning system of a more electric aircraft. Two objectives are targeted: the minimization of the system weight and the increase of its efficiency. Both objectives are integrated with several heterogeneous constraints, from network quality till flight mission fulfilment in the torque vs speed plan. Because of the complexity of the studied system and its multidisciplinary nature, "MDO" approaches (for multidisciplinary Design Optimization) are studied. In fact, beyond physical and technical skills, integrated optimal design of complex systems requires additional efforts in terms of design methodologies. Three approaches are presented in this thesis: One-level Approaches: sequential and global; Multilevel approach, coupling “system” level with “device” level (filter, inverter, electric machine); a set of formulations adapted to our design problem are presented to solve the issues associated to the one-level approaches. The performance of these design approaches are presented, analyzed and compared. The results clearly show the advantages that involves multilevel formulation compared to conventional design approaches.

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The research reported in this dissertation focuses on the development of optimization tools for the design of subsystems in a modern aircraft power distribution system. The baseline power distribution system is built around a 270V DC bus. One of the distinguishing features of this power distribution system is the presence of regenerative power from the electrically driven flight control actuators and structurally integrated smart actuators back to the DC bus. The key electrical components of the power distribution system are bidirectional switching power converters, which convert, control and condition electrical power between the sources and the loads. The dissertation is divided into three parts. Part I deals with the formulation of an optimization problem for a sample system consisting of a regulated DC-DC buck converter preceded by an input filter. The individual subsystems are optimized first followed by the integrated optimization of the sample system. It is shown that the integrated optimization provides better results than that obtained by integrating the individually optimized systems. Part II presents a detailed study of piezoelectric actuators. This study includes modeling, optimization of the drive amplifier and the development of a current control law for piezoelectric actuators coupled to a simple mechanical structure. Linear and nonlinear methods to study subsystem interaction and stability are studied in Part III. A multivariable impedance ratio criterion applicable to three phase systems is proposed. Bifurcation methods are used to obtain global stability characteristics of interconnected systems. The application of a nonlinear design methodology, widely used in power systems, to incrementally improve the robustness of a system to Hopf bifurcation instability is discussed. / Ph. D.

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No description available.

Ces travaux de thèse s’inscrivent dans la problématique de développement de transformateurs planar pour l’intégration de puissance, dans le contexte de l’avion plus électrique (More Electric Aircraft – MEA) où les contraintes de volume et de poids sont primordiales. Les composants magnétiques restent en effet un frein à l’intégration des systèmes d’Electronique de Puissance et les composants planar (transformateurs et inductances) offrent une alternative intéressante aux composants bobinés pour la réduction de la taille des convertisseurs.Dans ce manuscrit, des méthodes, un outil de dimensionnement et des prototypes de transformateurs planar (2 et 3 enroulements) en technologie feuillard et PCB sont développés pour des applications de convertisseur DC/DC aéronautique. Dans un premier temps, les modèles permettant le calcul des pertes, l'estimation de l'élévation de température et le calcul de l’inductance de fuite sont présentés et comparés afin de concevoir des outils de calculs pour la conception. Dans un deuxième temps, il est montré que la modification de la forme des angles des spires rectangulaires permet de réduire significativement les pertes cuivre HF. Sur la base de ces outils et résultats, des prototypes de transformateurs planar à 3 enroulements en PCB multicouches sont développés. De nombreux prototypes sont caractérisés et valident les modèles de dimensionnement proposés. Enfin, l’un de ces prototypes est intégré et testé dans un convertisseur de puissance DC/DC de 3.75kW mettant en évidence les gains obtenus. / These thesis works deal with the issue of the planar transformers development for power integration, in the context of the More Electric Aircraft (MEA), where the constraints of volume and weight are paramount. Magnetic components remain a hindrance to the integration of Power Electronics systems and planar components (transformers and inductors) offer an interesting alternative to wound components for reducing the size of converters.In these works, methods, a sizing tool and prototypes of planar transformers (2 and 3 windings) in strip and PCB technology are developed for aeronautical DC / DC converter applications. Firstly, the models allowing the calculation of the losses, the estimation of the temperature rise and the calculation of the leakage inductance are presented and compared in order to design calculation tools for engineers. In a second step, it is shown that the modification of the shape of the angles of rectangular turns makes it possible to significantly reduce the HF copper losses.Based on these tools and results, prototypes of 3-windings planar transformers in multilayer PCBs are developed. Many prototypes are characterized and validate the proposed designing models. Finally, one of these prototypes is integrated and tested in a DC / DC power converter of 3.75kW highlighting the gains obtained.