Design of More Electric Aircraft DC Power Distribution Architectures considering Reliability Performance

The More Electric Aircraft (MEA) concept has started to define the future of aircraft electrification. The electrical system will certainly play a crucial role in redefining energy utilization on-board. With the increasing demand of electrical energy, MEA power system architecture is a key enabler for the integration of future technologies. Nevertheless, newer designs must comply with the strictest safety and reliability specifications for successful adoption. This paper presents the design of a MEA DC power distribution system considering a set of reliability specifications. The novelty relies in the adoption of a network design-based model for MEA power system construction that allows explicit design formulations as Mixed Integer Linear Programming MILP problems. This approach will provide an effective way to comply with reliability specifications by introducing the concept of failure-resistance or survivability.