Scientific paper title

Hierarchical Control of Aircraft Electro-Thermal Systems

Task(2)
Date 18/8/2022
‫الحضور‬
‫مآب أحمد زكي‬
‫بنان عبد القوي‬
Introduction:
A hierarchical model predictive control (INtroduction A hierarchical model
predictive control (MPC) ap- proach is developed for energy management of
aircraft electro- thermal systems. High-power electrical systems on board
modern and future aircraft perform a variety of mission- and flight- critical
tasks, while thermal management systems actively cool these electronics to
satisfy component-specific temperature con- straints, ensuring safe and reliable
operation. In this paper, coordination of these electrical and thermal systems is
performed using a hierarchical control approach that decomposes the multi-
energy domain, constrained optimization problem into smaller, more
computationally efficient problems that can be solved in real-time. A Hardware-
In-the-Loop (HIL) experimental testbed is used to evaluate the proposed
hierarchical MPC in comparison to a baseline controller for a scaled, laboratory
representation of an aircraft electro-thermal system. Experimental results
demon- strate that the proposed approach outperforms the baseline controller
across a range of electrical loading in terms of both efficient energy
management and constraint satisfaction.
Index Terms—Hierarchical control, aircraft energy manage- ment, constrained
optimization, experimental validation.) ap- proach is developed for energy
management of aircraft electro- thermal systems. High-power electrical systems
on board modern and future aircraft perform a variety of mission- and flight-
critical tasks, while thermal management systems actively cool these electronics
to satisfy component-specific temperature con- straints, ensuring safe and
reliable operation. In this paper, coordination of these electrical and thermal
systems is performed using a hierarchical control approach that decomposes
the multi- energy domain, constrained optimization problem into
smaller, more computationally efficient problems that can be solved
in real-time. A Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) experimental testbed is
used to evaluate the proposed hierarchical MPC in comparison to a
baseline controller for a scaled, laboratory representation of an
aircraft electro-thermal system. Experimental results demon- strate
that the proposed approach outperforms the baseline controller
across a range of electrical loading in terms of both efficient energy
management and constraint satisfaction.
Index Terms—Hierarchical control, aircraft energy manage- ment,
constrained optimization, experimental validation.
Objective:
To enable greater aircraft capability, reliability, and effi- ciency, this paper
proposes a hierarchical MPC framework that coordinates the operation of the
electrical and thermal systems. In addition to coordinating control decisions
among the two energy domains, the hierarchical decomposition of control
decisions provides computational efficiency. This efficiency enables real-time
planning of optimal energy management over long prediction horizons by upper
level controllers and robust disturbance rejection via fast update rates by lower
level controllers. Computational efficiency is particularly important for aircraft,
where computational power is often lacking or based on decades-old
technology. As enclosed by the green triangle in Fig. 1, vehicle-, system-, and
subsystem-level energy management and coordination of electrical and thermal
systems is the primary focus. Thus, fast timescale component- level aspects such
as voltage regulation of a power electronic device, cell balancing within a
battery, and motor control of a pump are not treated, although ongoing
research is extending the proposed methodology to include these.
The proposed hierarchical MPC framework is demonstrated on a scaled
Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) testbed representative of an aircraft electro-
thermal system. As shown in Fig. 2, the testbed consists of a simulated air and
electrical system coupled to an experimental fluid-thermal hardware system.
The electrical system, simulated in real-time, consists of a generator, inverter-
bank, battery, and three loads. The waste heat generated by the inverters and
batteries enters a simulated electronics bay. Heat loads from other electrical
components and the bay are physically imposed on the experimental FTMS
hardware consisting of heat exchangers, fluid tanks, pumps, valves, and a chiller
heat sink. The temperatures of these physical components are communicated
back to the simulated electrical system, affecting the efficiency of the electrical
sys- tem components. Given a predefined mission profile and state feedback
from both systems, a desktop computer executes the
Fig. 2. Schematic of the key components of the HIL testbed used to represent an
aircraft electro-thermal system.
hierarchical MPC in real-time to compute actuator commands for both the
simulated and experimental plants.
This work coalesces and extends several previous efforts by the authors in
modeling and hierarchical control of electro-thermal systems. Specifically, the
graph-based mod- eling frameworks developed and experimentally validated in
[27,28] are used to capture the energy storage and power flow dynamics of the
electro-thermal systems in this paper. The hierarchical control formulation
developed in [29, 30] and experimentally demonstrated for fluid-thermal
control in [31] is used as a foundation for the proposed hierarchy in this paper.
problem statement:
The goals of any controller for aircraft energy manage- ment are to 1) maximize
the capability of the aircraft by achieving the desired operation of mission- and
flight-critical hardware, 2) satisfy various system constraints for safe and
reliable operation, and 3) minimize fuel consumption. The high degree of
coupling and sheer complexity of aircraft power systems, combined with their
wide range in dynamic timescales, makes simultaneous consideration of these
goals very challenging. Historically, decentralized, or “siloed,” sys- tem design
and control approaches have been employed to decompose the overall energy
management problem into more manageable sub-problems, with limited
consideration of the dynamic interactions between systems [4–7]. Single-input,
single-output (SISO) control approaches provide regulation about
predetermined steady-state operating conditions, while logic-based decision
trees determine topology switching and address potential fault scenarios.
Coupling between systems is treated as a disturbance, where controllers and
setpoints are made robust through extensive tuning to ensure constraint
satisfaction.
Solution:
Model Predictivew Control (MPC) has been used in [16–19] for coordinated
control of the aircraft engine and electrical power system to achieve improved
effi- ciency while maintaining stall margins during highly transient
loading.electrical system consists of an AC generator, a bi-directional AC/DC
inverter bank with three parallel inverters, a battery, and three types of loads.
The AC load and Advanced Electrical Equipment (AEE) are powered directly from
the generator. The DC load is powered from the DC bus, which is supplied by the
inverter bank and the battery. While the heat generation by the AC and DC
loads is assumed
Fig. 4. Inverter bank efficiency is a function of load current and the number of
active inverters. In the hierarchical control formulation, these nonlinear
efficiencies are approximated by discrete modes of constant efficiency shown by
the black trace.
to be negligible, the generator, AEE, inverters, and batteries generate heat in
accordance with their electrical efficiencies. In this paper, the generator is
assumed to have a constant electrical efficiency, while the AEE and battery
electrical efficiencies are a function of their operating temperature, as detailed
in Section III-C. The electrical efficiency of each inverter is assumed to be a
function of its current. Each inverter may be switched on and off, therefore the
overall efficiency of the inverter bank also depends on the number of active
inverters, as shown in Fig. 4. Note that these efficiency curves are notional and
not intended to represent any specific component or manufacturer
specification. For simplicity in this paper, efficiency is assumed to be either a
function of temperature or current. In practice, efficiency can be a function of
additional factors. The general methodology of this paper does not preclude a
more complex treatment of component efficiencies.
The inverters and battery are housed in an electronics bay. Each of these has a
heat sink and a variable-speed fan to transfer thermal energy from the
component to air in the bay.
Methodology:
To enable greater aircraft capability, reliability, and effi- ciency, this paper
proposes a hierarchical MPC framework that coordinates the operation of the
electrical and thermal systems. In addition to coordinating control decisions
among the two energy domains, the hierarchical decomposition of control
decisions provides computational efficiency. This efficiency enables real-time
planning of optimal energy management over long prediction horizons by upper
level controllers and robust disturbance rejection via fast update rates by lower
level controllers. Computational efficiency is particularly important for aircraft,
where computational power is often lacking or based on decades-old
technology. As enclosed by the green triangle in Fig. 1, vehicle-, system-, and
subsystem-level energy management and coordination of electrical and thermal
systems is the primary focus. Thus, fast timescale component- level aspects such
as voltage regulation of a power electronic device, cell balancing within a
battery, and motor control of a pump are not treated, although ongoing
research is extending the proposed methodology to include these.
The proposed hierarchical MPC framework is demonstrated on a scaled
Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) testbed representative of an aircraft electro-
thermal system. As shown in Fig. 2, the testbed consists of a simulated air and
electrical system coupled to an experimental fluid-thermal hardware system.
The electrical system, simulated in real-time, consists of a generator, inverter-
bank, battery, and three loads. The waste heat generated by the inverters and
batteries enters a simulated electronics bay. Heat loads from other electrical
components and the bay are physically imposed on the experimental FTMS
hardware consisting of heat exchangers, fluid tanks, pumps, valves, and a chiller
heat sink. The temperatures of these physical components are communicated
back to the simulated electrical system, affecting the efficiency of the electrical
sys- tem components. Given a predefined mission profile and state feedback
from both systems, a desktop computer executes the
Fig. 2. Schematic of the key components of the HIL testbed used to represent an
aircraft electro-thermal system.
hierarchical MPC in real-time to compute actuator commands for both the
simulated and experimental plants.
This work coalesces and extends several previous efforts by the authors in
modeling and hierarchical control of electro-thermal systems. Specifically, the
graph-based mod- eling frameworks developed and experimentally validated in
[27,28] are used to capture the energy storage and power flow dynamics of the
electro-thermal systems in this paper. The hierarchical control formulation
developed in [29, 30] and experimentally demonstrated for fluid-thermal
control in [31] is used as a foundation for the proposed hierarchy in this paper.
References:
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would also like to thank Pamela J. Tannous for
her contribution in developing the HIL electro-thermal system
used in this paper.