Controlling an electrical consumer of an aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016359433-A1
Application number	US-201514730443-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 4, 2015
Priority date	Nov 28, 2011
Publication date	Dec 8, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An electrical consumer of an aircraft comprises an electric motor and an inverter for producing an alternating voltage for the electric motor. A method for controlling the electrical consumer comprises determining a rotational frequency for the electric motor. The method also includes establishing whether the rotational frequency leads to oscillations in the input current of the inverter which are below a predefined threshold, the oscillations being produced by the inverter when producing a supply voltage for the electric motor, and changing the rotational frequency if it has been established that the rotational frequency leads to oscillations below the predefined threshold.

First claim

1 . A method for controlling an electrical consumer of an aircraft, comprising:
determining a rotational frequency for an electric motor; establishing whether the determined rotational frequency leads to oscillations in an input current of an inverter with a frequency below a predefined threshold, the oscillations being produced by the inverter when producing a supply voltage for the electric motor; and changing the rotational frequency if it has been established that the rotational frequency leads to oscillations in the input current of the inverter with a frequency below the predefined threshold.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a rotational frequency at which no oscillations occur in the input current of the inverter, of which the frequency is below the threshold, if it has been established that the rotational frequency leads to oscillations in the input current of the inverter, of which the frequency is below the predefined threshold; and changing the rotational frequency to the determined rotational frequency.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a rotational frequency range in which the rotational frequency leads to oscillations in the input current of the inverter, of which the frequency is below the threshold, if it has been established that the rotational frequency leads to oscillations in the input current of the inverter, of which the frequency is below the predefined threshold; and changing the rotational frequency to an end of the rotational frequency range.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein establishing whether the determined rotational frequency leads to oscillations further comprises:
determining the frequency of the oscillations in the input current of the inverter via a predefined functional correlation with the rotational frequency.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein rotational frequencies which lead to oscillations in the input current of the inverter having certain frequencies are stored in a table, and establishing whether the determined rotational frequency leads to oscillations further comprises:
determining the frequency of the oscillations in the input current of the inverter based on the table.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the inverter is connectable to an onboard network of the aircraft, which network has a frequency which is variable over time.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predefined threshold is below a network frequency of an onboard network.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein establishing whether the determined rotational frequency leads to oscillations is carried out by a local control unit which is configured to control the inverter for producing the supply voltage for the electric motor.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein establishing whether the determined rotational frequency leads to oscillations is carried out by a superordinate control unit which is configured to control a plurality of electrical consumers.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the electrical consumer comprises a conveying device, and the method further comprises:
determining a desired rotational frequency from a desired conveying quantity of the conveying device.

11 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the electrical consumer comprises a ventilation device.

12 . A computer program product, comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable medium readable by a processor and storing instructions for execution by the processor for performing a method comprising: determining a rotational frequency for an electric motor; establishing whether the determined rotational frequency leads to oscillations in an input current of an inverter with a frequency below a predefined threshold, the oscillations being produced by the inverter when producing a supply voltage for the electric motor; and changing the rotational frequency if it has been established that the rotational frequency leads to oscillations in the input current of the inverter with a frequency below the predefined threshold.

13 . The computer program product according to claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining a rotational frequency at which no oscillations occur in the input current of the inverter, of which the frequency is below the threshold, if it has been established that the rotational frequency leads to oscillations in the input current of the inverter, of which the frequency is below the predefined threshold; and changing the rotational frequency to the determined rotational frequency.

14 . The computer program product according to claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining a rotational frequency range in which the rotational frequency leads to oscillations in the input current of the inverter, of which the frequency is below the threshold, if it has been established that the rotational frequency leads to oscillations in the input current of the inverter, of which the frequency is below the predefined threshold; and changing the rotational frequency to an end of the rotational frequency range.

15 . The computer program product according to claim 12 , wherein establishing whether the determined rotational frequency leads to oscillations further comprises:
determining the frequency of the oscillations in the input current of the inverter via a predefined functional correlation with the rotational frequency.

16 . The computer program product according to claim 12 , wherein rotational frequencies which lead to oscillations in the input current of the inverter having certain frequencies are stored in a table, and establishing whether the determined rotational frequency leads to oscillations further comprises:
determining the frequency of the oscillations in the input current of the inverter based on the table.

17 . A control system for an electrical consumer of an aircraft, comprising:
an electric motor; an inverter for generating an alternating voltage for the electric motor; and a control unit that: determines a rotational frequency for the electric motor; establishes whether the determined rotational frequency leads to oscillations in an input current of the inverter with a frequency below a predefined threshold, the oscillations being produced by the inverter when producing a supply voltage for the electric motor; and changes the rotational frequency if it has been established that the rotational frequency leads to oscillations in the input current of the inverter with a frequency below the predefined threshold.

18 . An aircraft, comprising:
a generator which is mechanically coupled to a drive of the aircraft for supplying electrical consumers of the aircraft with electrical energy; an electrical consumer having an electric motor; an inverter for producing an alternating voltage for the electric motor; and a control unit for the electrical consumer that: determines a rotational frequency for the electric motor; establishes whether the determined rotational frequency leads to oscillations in an input current of the inverter with a frequency below a predefined threshold, the oscillations being produced by the inverter when producing a supply voltage for the electric motor; and changes the rotational frequency if it has been established that the rotational frequency leads to oscillations in the input current of the inverter with a frequency below the predefined threshold.

19 . The aircraft according to cl

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Gmbh

Inventors

• Schult Jens
• Eberth Henning

Classifications

• H02J3/003

  Load forecast, e.g. methods or systems for forecasting future load demand · CPC title

• H02J3/002 Primary

  Flicker reduction, e.g. compensation of flicker introduced by non-linear load · CPC title

• H02J2105/32

  for aircrafts · CPC title

• B64D2221/00

  Electric power distribution systems onboard aircraft · CPC title

• H02J3/01

  Arrangements for reducing harmonics or ripples · CPC title