Emergency power supply system, aircraft having such an emergency power supply system and a method for providing at least electric power and hydraulic power in case of an emergency in an aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10676208-B2
Application number	US-201514863615-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 24, 2015
Priority date	Sep 29, 2014
Publication date	Jun 9, 2020
Grant date	Jun 9, 2020

Abstract

An emergency power supply system for providing hydraulic power and electric power in an aircraft includes a fuel cell having an electric outlet for providing electric power, a conversion unit couplable with at least one of an AC bus and a DC bus and the electric outlet, and at least one hydraulic pump having a reconfigurable electric motor and a motor control unit and being couplable with a hydraulic system for providing hydraulic power. The conversion unit is adapted for converting a supply voltage of the electrical outlet to at least one of an AC voltage matching a predetermined voltage at the AC bus and a DC voltage matching a predetermined voltage at the DC bus. The reconfigurable electric motor is couplable with the fuel cell and the AC bus and is adapted for being operated by the supply of electric power either from the fuel cell or the AC bus.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An emergency power supply system for providing at least hydraulic power and electric power in an aircraft, the system comprising:
at least one fuel cell having an electric outlet for providing electric power with a DC supply voltage;
a conversion unit for conversion of electric power, the conversion unit being couplable with the electric outlet of the at least one fuel cell and with at least one of an AC bus and a DC bus of the aircraft; and
at least one hydraulic pump having an electric motor and a motor control electronics unit and being couplable with a hydraulic system of the aircraft for providing hydraulic power,
wherein the conversion unit is adapted for converting the DC supply voltage of the electric outlet of the at least one fuel cell to at least one of an AC voltage matching a predetermined voltage at the AC bus and a DC voltage matching a predetermined voltage at the DC bus,
wherein the electric motor is selectively couplable with the at least one fuel cell and the AC bus, wherein the electric motor is adapted for being selectively operated by the supply of electric power either from the at least one fuel cell or the AC bus, wherein a direct current supplied from the at least one fuel cell is converted to an alternating current, and
wherein the electric motor comprises a stator having a set of interconnected stator windings, the electric motor being configured for changing a connection scheme of the stator windings while maintaining three phases, wherein the connection scheme of the stator windings is selectable from at least two patterns, wherein a first pattern of the at least two patterns enables the electric motor to be operated with a first voltage delivered from the AC bus and wherein a second pattern of the at least two patterns enables the electric motor to be operated with a second voltage delivered by the at least one fuel cell.

2. The emergency power supply system of claim 1 , wherein the motor control electronics unit is connectable to the electric outlet of the at least one fuel cell and the electric motor,
wherein the motor control electronics unit is adapted for converting the voltage delivered by the at least one fuel cell into a motor supply voltage applying field oriented control.

3. The emergency power supply system of claim 1 ,
wherein the conversion unit is connectable to the electric outlet of the at least one fuel cell,
wherein a transformer is connected to the conversion unit for increasing the AC voltage delivered by the conversion unit for supply into the AC bus, and
wherein the electric motor is connectable to the conversion unit.

4. The emergency power supply system of claim 1 , wherein the conversion unit is adapted for converting the DC supply voltage delivered by the electric outlet of the at least one fuel cell into the AC voltage supplyable into the AC bus and into the DC voltage supplyable to an essential DC bus.

5. The emergency power supply system of claim 1 , further comprising a switching unit for selectively connecting the electric motor to either the AC bus or one of the conversion unit and the motor control electronics unit delivering a motor supply voltage.

6. The emergency power supply system of claim 5 , wherein the switching unit is integrated into the motor control electronics unit and adapted for selectively connecting the electric motor to either the AC bus or an inverter arranged in the motor control electronics unit.

7. The emergency power supply system of claim 5 ,
wherein the electric motor is connected to the motor control electronics unit,
wherein the motor control electronics unit is connectable to the electric outlet of the at least one fuel cell,
wherein the conversion unit is connectable to the electric outlet of the at least one fuel cell and the motor control electronics unit,
wherein the switching unit is connectable to the conversion unit and the AC bus of the aircraft, and
wherein the switching unit is adapted for transferring the alternating current from the conversion unit into the AC bus of the aircraft in a galvanically separated manner.

8. The emergency power supply system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one fuel cell is adapted for using air as an oxidant,
the system further comprising a load control unit adapted for selectively connecting at least one electrical load to the electric outlet of the at least one fuel cell for allowing a continuous operation of the at least one fuel cell for generating a continuous flow of oxygen depleted air.

9. The emergency power supply system of claim 1 , wherein the conversion unit is adapted for being operated in at least one operation mode of a group of operation modes, the group consisting of:
1) supplying the conversion unit with an AC supply voltage from the AC bus, converting the AC supply voltage to the DC voltage matching the predetermined voltage at the DC bus,
2) supplying the conversion unit with the DC supply voltage from the at least one fuel cell, converting the DC supply voltage to the DC voltage matching the predetermined voltage at the DC bus and converting the DC supply voltage to the AC voltage matching the predetermined voltage at the AC bus, and
3) supplying the conversion unit with a DC bus supply voltage from the DC bus and converting the DC bus supply voltage to the AC voltage matching the predetermined voltage at the AC bus.

10. An aircraft comprising:
at least one AC bus;
at least one hydraulic network; and
at least one emergency power supply system comprising:
at least one fuel cell having an electric outlet for providing electric power with a DC supply voltage;
a conversion unit for conversion of electric power, the conversion unit being couplable with the electric outlet of the at least one fuel cell and with at least one of the at least one AC bus and a DC bus of the aircraft; and
at least one hydraulic pump having an electric motor and a motor control electronics unit and being couplable with the at least one hydraulic network of the aircraft for providing hydraulic power,
wherein the conversion unit is adapted for converting the DC supply voltage of the electric outlet of the at least one fuel cell to at least one of an AC voltage matching a predetermined voltage at the at least one AC bus and a DC voltage matching a predetermined voltage at the DC bus,
wherein the electric motor is selectively couplable with the at least one fuel cell and the at least one AC bus, wherein the electric motor is adapted for being selectively operated by the supply of electric power either from the at least one fuel cell or the at least one AC bus, wherein a direct current supplied from the at least one fuel cell is converted to an alternating current, and
wherein the electric motor comprises a stator having a set of interconnected stator windings, the electric motor being configured for changing a connection scheme of the stator windings while maintaining three phases, wherein the connection scheme of the stator windings is selectable from at least two patterns, wherein a first pattern of the at least two patterns enables the electric motor to be operated with a first voltage delivered from the at least one AC bus and wherein a second pattern of the at least two patterns enables the electric motor to be operated with a second voltage delivered by the at least one fuel cell.

11. The aircraft of claim 10 , further comprising at least one space having an inlet for oxygen depleted air,
wherein the at least one fuel cell of the at least one emergency power supply system is adapted for using air as an oxidant, such that oxygen depleted air is generated during the operation of the at least one fuel cell, and
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Assignees

• Airbus Operations Gmbh
• Airbus Defence & Space Gmbh

Inventors

• Wangemann Joerg
• Leudders Hauke-Peer
• Zandstra Sijmen
• Drechsel Peer

Classifications

• B64D2041/005

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• H02P4/00

  Arrangements specially adapted for regulating or controlling the speed or torque of electric motors that can be connected to two or more different electric power supplies (vector control H02P21/00) · CPC title

• H02P25/184

  wherein the motor speed is changed by switching from a delta to a star, e.g. wye, connection of its windings, or vice versa · CPC title

• H01M2250/20

  Fuel cells in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane · CPC title

• Y02T90/32

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic