Overview
The main objective of the proposal was the development of an Electrical Power Center (EPC) integrated with a devoted Control Console (CC), enhanced with advanced electrical power management strategies. The proposal was based on the following keypoints:
- an Electrical Power Center equipped with Solid State Power Controllers (SSPCs) for both energy management and protection functions will be implemented. Most recent technologies will be included in the power center, referring to the recent state-of-art, in order to guarantee compliance with selected aeronautical standards. The SSPC component will be ad-hoc designed for the implementation of both the power management strategies and protection functionalities.
- a firmware will be implemented for monitoring and supervision of the EPC, particularly referring to Electrical-Energy Management (E-EM) concept verification. The EPC will be equipped with a software able to perform several analysis, referring to preprocessing (i.e. configurations pretesting), (i.e. monitoring and energy management logics implementation) and postprocessing (i.e. plotting and comparison between measured and simulated quantities).
The proposed project followed a typical workflow based on requirements analysis, specs derivation, design phase, physical implementation, testing phase, results analysis versus simulations and final equipment validation.
Funding
Results
Executive Summary:
The main objective of the current project was the development of an Electrical Power Center (EPC) integrated with a devoted Control Console (CC), enhanced with advanced electrical power management strategies for the aims of the in-flight demo electrical validation and verification activities. The project was based on the following key-points:
- an Electrical Power Center equipped with Solid State Power Controllers (SSPCs) for both power management and protection functions will be implemented. Most recent technologies will be included in the power center, referring to the recent state-of-art, in order to guarantee compliance with selected aeronautical standards. The SSPC component will be ad-hoc designed for the implementation of both the power management strategies and protection functionalities.
- a firmware will be designed and implemented for monitoring and supervision of the EPC, particularly referring to Electrical Energy Management (EEM) concept verification. The software will be able to perform several analyses, referring to preprocessing (i.e. configurations pretesting), real time operations (i.e. monitoring and energy management logics implementation) and postprocessing (i.e. plotting and comparison between measured and simulated quantities). The real-time analysis capabilities will be provided through a strong interaction with the EPC computer system, devoted to the E-EM concept implementation. Particular attention will be devoted to obtain reliability and robustness of the CC, as critical component due to a required intensive interaction with the final user during the in-flight demonstration. The proposed Project follows a typical workflow based on requirements analysis, specs derivation, design phase, physical implementation, testing phase, results analysis versus simulations and final equipment validation.
As an above evidenced general Project guideline, a major effort was actuated for ensuring equipment reliability, due to the in-flight testing activities to be performed at the Project final stage. As a consequence, particular care was devoted also to pre-testing of the complete equipment before final installation and commissioning on site, where a complete set of qualification tests will be performed by a third-part laboratory under subcontracting funding.
Finally, the Electrical Energy Management logics re-programmability, both from software (i.e. embedded software) and hardware (i.e. SSPC ad-hoc development) point of view were considered as a second major guideline for the overall Project workflow, in order to provide a final product able to accommodate the end-user needs at its best.