Database-supported Preliminary Design, Simulation and Evaluation of Power Converters in Electric Aircraft Propulsion Systems

Abstract:
In electric aircraft propulsion systems, the number and power level of power electronic components will increase significantly. Thereby, preliminary design tools of power converters are required to support system studies during early design stages. This paper assists those studies by introducing an automated approach to achieve a comprehensive preliminary design. Common inverter topologies are designed according to the challenging aircraft application requirements. Sub-components are selected from a database and used for a topology circuit parameterization via an XML-RPC interface. The topologies are simulated in PLECS and the results are returned to the implemented design tool for post-processing.