Concept of energy management for advanced smart-grid power distribution system in aeronautical application

The paper presents the state of the art and the future trend of the Energy Management. The “Energy Management” term is often used to indicate one or more techniques adopted in the new more electric aircraft, to avoid the generator overload. The designer can use four different approaches, or a combination of them to reduce the over sizing of the generators. The first method regulate the energy exchanged between sources in order to share the power between them. The second method uses storage elements (battery or supercap) to limit the peak power. This elements are connected to the power bus through DC/DC converters that are in charge of the power flux regulation and work like active filters. The third method regulate the loads, or switch them ON/OFF limiting the generator overload. The last method works with the fast reconfigurable network and distribute loads between sources in order to charge each generator within its capability. Some example of experimental works are also provided in the work.