Supercapacitor-based energy management for future aircraft systems

A power-based control method is proposed and analysed for a supercapacitor energy storage device. The performance of the energy storage device is examined by simulation and experimentally when operating on a high voltage DC bus with a multi-phase, fault-tolerant generator and a high power, pulsed load such as an actuation or avionic system. In the practical system the energy storage device is emulated using a bi-directional electronic load and a real-time simulation platform. The energy storage device is shown to minimise the DC bus transients and virtually eliminate the torque pulsation on the generator shaft. The system design and performance trade-offs are analysed. The experimental work uses a 70 kW generator and 30 kW programmable load emulation devices.