Latest Solutions

to meet Power Conversion Needs

on the Electric Aircraft

Kaz Furmanczyk
Crane Aerospace & Electronics

Aerospace Electrical Systems Expo 2014

Long Beach, California, April 1-3, 2014
 Presentation Outline
 Background
• Increase in Power Needs on the “More Electric Aircraft”
• Adaptation of 230 Vac on New Aircraft

 Solving Power Conversion New Challenges

• Design Considerations
• Conventional ATRU Approach
• New ATRU Topologies for Converting 230 Vac Into 270 Vdc

 Design Example

 Summary and Conclusions

© 2013 Crane Aerospace & Electronics 2

 Background
 New generation of aircraft are becoming “More Electric”
• Traditional pneumatic and hydraulic systems on airplanes are being
replaced with electrical devices
• More electrical equipment is being added to airplanes
• Higher power needs to be generated and distributed

 Wire weight and power losses are increasing with

distribution of higher power

 To mitigate wire weight and distribution loss issues, new

aircraft have adopted 230 Vac as the main power bus
voltage

© 2013 Crane Aerospace & Electronics 3

 Background
 This presents a new challenge to power conversion
• Existing aircraft equipment (actuators, pumps, etc) have been
designed to use 270 Vdc – obtained by direct rectification of
115 Vac
• 270 Vdc can not be simply produced from 230 Vac
 There is a need for reliable, low weight and simple power
equipment converting 230 Vac to 270 Vdc
 This presentation addresses options for such equipment
and new solutions

© 2013 Crane Aerospace & Electronics 4

 Design Considerations
 The following power conversion technologies are capable
of converting 3-phase, 230 Vac into 270 Vdc in addition to
meeting aerospace power quality requirements:
• Multiphase power conversion (passive conversion)
• High frequency switch mode conversion (active conversion)

 Multiphase power conversion become attractive in

aerospace applications due to simplicity, low weight and
low cost

© 2013 Crane Aerospace & Electronics 5

 Multiphase Power Conversion
Three- DC
Phase AC
ATRU Output Effects of design approach
Input 1 2 n
on output voltage ripple
3-phase to n-phase autotransformer
and input current THD
Design Output Voltage Ripple Input Current THD
Approach [% p-p] [%]
14 28-33
30 V_Aux.V [V]
R_Aux.I [A]
8 .0 0 EA.I [A]

3-phase n-phase
29
6 .0 0

6-pulse 28
4 .0 0

2 .0 0

0
27

-2 . 0 0

26
-4 . 0 0

-6 . 0 0
25
2 .5 m 2 .8 m 3m 3 .2 m 3 .4 m 3 .6 m 3 .8 m 4m 4 .2 m 4 .4 m 4 .6 m 4 .8 m 5 m t [s ] -8 . 0 0
2 .5 0 m 2 .8 0 m 3 .0 0 m 3 .2 0 m 3 .4 0 m 3 .6 0 m 3 .8 0 m 4 .0 0 m 4 .2 0 m 4 .4 0 m 4 .6 0 m 5 .0 0 m t [s ]

3.4 9-14
30 VM_Rload1.V [V] 50 EA.I [A]
Rload1.I [A] 40
29

12-pulse 28
20

0
27

-2 0
26

 Output Voltage: 270 Vdc nominal

-4 0
25
2 .5 m 2 .8 m 3m 3 .2 m 3 .4 m 3 .6 m 3 .8 m 4m 4 .2 m 4 .4 m 4 .6 m 4 .8 m 5 m t [s ] -5 0
2 .5 m 2 .8 m 3m 3 .2 m 3 .4 m 3 .6 m 3 .8 m 4m 4 .2 m 4 .4 m 4 .6 m 4 .8 m 5 m t [s ]

1.52 6-9
(with 115 Vac input); passive regulation 30 VM_Rload1.V [V]
Rload1.I [A]
50
40
EA.I [A]


29

Meets Input Current Harmonic Limits 18-pulse

20

28

27

-2 0

26

 Power Factor: 0.980-0.990

-4 0
25 -5 0
2 .5 m 2 .8 m 3m 3 .2 m 3 .4 m 3 .6 m 3 .8 m 4m 4 .2 m 4 .4 m 4 .6 m 4 .8 m 5 m t [s ] 2 .5 m 2 .8 m 3m 3 .2 m 3 .4 m 3 .6 m 3 .8 m 4m 4 .2 m 4 .4 m 4 .6 m 4 .8 m 5 m t [s ]

 Efficiency: 96-98% 0.55

30 V_Load.V [V]
2.5-3.5
50 EA.I [A]
Rload1.I [A] 40

 Simplicity: low parts count; no need for

29

30-pulse 28
20

27

energy storage components (C or L)

-2 0

26

-4 0
25 -5 0
2 .5 m 2 .8 m 3m 3 .2 m 3 .4 m 3 .6 m 3 .8 m 4m 4 .2 m 4 .4 m 4 .6 m 4 .8 m 5 m t [s ] 2 .5 m 2 .8 m 3m 3 .2 m 3 .4 m 3 .6 m 3 .8 m 4m 4 .2 m 4 .4 m 4 .6 m 4 .8 m 5 m t [s ]

© 2013 Crane Aerospace & Electronics 6

 Conventional ATRU Designs
 Most commercial aerospace power quality requirements
can be satisfied with 12-pulse or 18-pulse ATRUs, when
converting 3-phase 115 Vac into 270 Vdc
 Typical 12-pulse ATRU:

AUTOTRANSFORMER RECTIFIERS

1
2 IPT #1
3 e
A
2 1
f
A
Output
B a 270 V DC
Input IPT #2
115 V AC 3 6
e
C c 1
C f
B 2
b
4 5 3

© 2013 Crane Aerospace & Electronics 7

 Conventional ATRU Designs
 To convert 230 Vac into 270 Vdc scaling windings need to
be added to an autotransformer
AUTOTRANSFORMER RECTIFIERS

A 1
2 IPT #1
d
3 e

2 1
f
A
Output
270 V DC
B a
Input IPT #2
5 kW Load
230 V AC 3 6
e
C c 1
C 2 f
b
4 5 3
B

Total Power Processed = 8,245 VA

© 2013 Crane Aerospace & Electronics 8

 New ATRU* – 12-Pulse Topology
 The same conversion of 230 Vac to 270 Vdc – New technology
AUTOTRANSFORMER *Covered by US patent No. 7,796,413
RECTIFIER
A
d

1
c 2
A 2
3 Output
1 4 270 V DC
Input B 3
5 kW Load
b 5
230 V AC 6 6
C
a
C
4 5
B

Total Power Processed = 6,065 VA

Conventional ATRU design
comparison: 26.4% Improvement
6065/8245 * 100% = 73.6%
© 2013 Crane Aerospace & Electronics 9
 New ATRU* – 18-Pulse Topology
AUTOTRANSFORMER
*Covered by US patent No. 7,796,413
RECTIFIER
A
e 1

d 2
3
2 1
A c 4
3 9 5 Output
Input B f 6
270 V DC
b
230 V AC 4 8 7
C 8
a
C 9
5 7
6
B

 For applications where higher power quality is required

 ATRU optimized for conversion of 230 Vac into 270 Vdc
• Output voltages shifted 40 degree (9 output phases)
• Six outputs taken directly from taps on delta windings
• Only three short stud windings added
• Weight reduced by 26% compared to existing ATRU topologies
© 2013 Crane Aerospace & Electronics 10
 New ATRU – Design Example
5 kW ATRU, 12-pulse Topology – Design Example
Parameter Value
5 kW continuous
Power Rating
7.5 kW (150%) overload for 2 min.
230 V ac, 360-800 Hz, 3-phase,
Input Voltage
DO-160G characteristics
Output
270 V dc nominal at full load
Voltage
Power Factor 0.98 minimum, 50% to 100% load
Efficiency 95% minimum, 50% to 100% load
Meets DO-160G individual current
Power Quality
harmonic limits
EMI Meets DO-160G, Section 21,
Conducted
Emission Level B emissions on AC input
Weight 7.2 lb maximum
Size 9” x 3.7” x 3.1” (L x W X H)
Operating
-40 deg. C to 85 deg. C at base plate
Temperature
Cooling Conduction through base plate
© 2013 Crane Aerospace & Electronics 11
 Summary and Conclusions
 Demands for electrical power on today’s aircraft are increasing
 Latest commercial aircraft have adopted 230 Vac as main power
bus voltage
 Many of the existing aircraft equipment use 270 Vdc power
 270 Vdc can not be simply produced from 230 Vac thereby
presenting a challenge to the power conversion equipment
 This paper addressed new ATRU design topologies for
converting 230 Vac into 270 Vdc
 Comparison analyses showed substantial improvements (26%)
of these new topologies over traditional solutions
 Hardware test results confirmed the analyses
New ATRU topologies fulfilled the challenge of generating 270 Vdc on
aircraft with a 230 Vac bus
•Lower weight
•Higher power quality

© 2013 Crane Aerospace & Electronics 12

 The Crane Advantage!

For more information please visit CraneAE.com

Technical Assistance
Kaz Furmanczyk, Principal Engineer
Tel. +1 425.743.8106
Email: kaz.furmanczyk@crane-eg.com

© 2013 Crane Aerospace & Electronics 13