Distributed Adaptive Control for DC Power Distribution in Hybrid-Electric Aircraft: Design and Experimental Validation

Abstract

To reduce CO2 emissions and tackle increasing fuel costs, the aviation industry is swiftly moving towards the electrification of aircraft. From the viewpoint of systems and control, a key challenge brought by this transition corresponds to the management and safe operation of the propulsion system's onboard electrical power distribution network. In this work, for a series-hybrid-electric propulsion system, we propose a distributed adaptive controller for regulating the voltage of a DC bus that energizes the electricity-based propulsion system. The proposed controller -- whose design is based on principles of back-stepping, adaptive, and passivity-based control techniques -- also enables the proportional sharing of the electric load among multiple converter-interfaced sources, which reduces the likelihood of over-stressing individual sources. Compared to existing control strategies, our method ensures stable, convergent, and accurate voltage regulation and load-sharing even if the effects of power lines of unknown resistances and inductances are considered. The performance of the proposed control scheme is experimentally validated and compared to state-of-the-art controllers in a power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) environment.