Multi-Phase Fault Tolerant MW Range Synchronous Machine Drives for Hybrid-Electric Aircraft

The emission goals of the aerospace industry cannot be accomplished through marginal improvement in the aircraft propulsion systems. Electric and hybrid-electric configurations are deemed revolutionary for newly conceived aircraft designs, and the onboard electric power generation must increase to the multi-megawatt range. Additionally, specific reliability requirements need to be defined and fulfilled by improved fault tolerant capabilities of the onboard devices. Permanent magnet generators are considered and compared to the innovative high-temperature superconducting machines. Suitable multilevel converters are evaluated to enhance the voltage ratings of the system and specific fault diagnostic control algorithms are taken into account for the detection and the management of fault conditions. The paper explores the latest advancement in the abovementioned technologies and outlines a national (Italian) research Project that involves four research academic units for the development of technical solutions to be applied to multi-megawatt aerospace power generation systems.