Research and Realization of High-Power Medium-Voltage Active Rectifier Concepts for Future Hybrid-Electric Aircraft Generation
Andrew Trentin, Giacomo Sala, Luca Tarisciotti, Alessandro Galassini, Michele Degano, Peter H. Connor, Dmitry Golovanov, David Gerada, Zeyuan Xu, Antonino La Rocca, Carol Eastwick, S. Pickering, Patrick Wheeler, John Clare, Chris Gerada
Abstract
In this article, we describe the research and development of a 3 kV active rectifier for a 4 MW aerospace generator drive system demonstrator. The converter is fed by a multiphase high-speed/high-frequency permanent magnet generator. The main aim of the work is to demonstrate for the first time the feasibility of an MW-class generator system meeting future hybrid-electric propulsion requirements. A concept with multiple and isolated three-phase systems feeding different power buses is proposed to meet the availability requirements. Multiple converters (one for each three-phase system) are connected in series and/or in parallel to achieve the rated power and dc-link voltage. This article describes the key design concepts and the development and testing of the converter to meet the challenging application requirements. Reduced power tests are carried out on a full-scale 4 MW converter prototype, validating the proposed design. The work represents a step forward in terms of voltage, power, and output frequency with respect to the state-of-the-art.