Study of Partial Discharge Characteristics of Optimally Fabricated MMEI Flat Samples Under DC and Their DC Dielectric Strength for Applications in Envisaged All-Electric Wide-Body Aircraft

One of the effective responses to achieve a net zero emission goal by 2050 is moving towards all-electric transportation systems from traditional fuel-based transportation systems. As a result of this green energy movement in transportation, the aviation industry is moving towards all-electric aircraft (AEA), where a large amount of power during takeoff, in the range of ten megawatts, is required. For envisaged all-electric wide-body aircraft, MVDCs in the range of a few kV and high-power density and low system mass components are being investigated. However, the use of MVDC in harsh aviation environmental conditions such as low pressures and humidity poses critical challenges, including enhanced partial discharge (PD) activity, when designing insulation systems. In our previous studies, we designed multilayer multifunction electrical insulation (MMEI) systems for MVDC power cables capable of working under a low pressure of 18.8 kPa (a height of 12.2 km, which is the usual cruising height of wide-body aircraft) through modeling and simulations. In this paper, the designed MMEI systems are built as a flat configuration, and the PDs of samples under DC at atmospheric pressure and 18.8 kPa are measured and analyzed using OMICRON MPD 800. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to study internal PD activities and dielectric strength of MMEI systems optimally designed for aircraft under DC voltage.