Energy supply network for an aircraft or spacecraft, method for supplying electrical loads with energy, and aircraft or spacecraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9577433-B2
Application number	US-201113988890-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 22, 2011
Priority date	Nov 22, 2010
Publication date	Feb 21, 2017
Grant date	Feb 21, 2017

Abstract

An energy supply network for an aircraft or spacecraft, comprising at least one energy generating device for generating electrical energy, comprising at least two energy control devices, at least one of which is coupled directly to at least one of the energy generating devices and which are adapted each to provide a controlled supply voltage so as to supply electrical loads located in the aircraft with energy, and comprising a high-voltage direct current transmission device, which couples the at least two energy control devices to one another by means of high-voltage direct current transmission. Further, a method for supplying energy, and an aircraft or spacecraft.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An energy supply network for an aircraft or spacecraft, comprising:
at least one energy generating device for generating electrical energy;
at least two energy control devices, at least one of which is coupled directly to the at least one energy generating device and which are adapted each to provide a controlled supply voltage so as to supply electrical loads located in the aircraft with energy; and
a high-voltage direct current transmission device which couples the at least two energy control devices to one another by means of high-voltage direct current transmission,
wherein the at least two energy control devices each comprise an output power sensor and an input power sensor, which detect the power emitted and received respectively by such energy control device, the energy control devices compensating electrical energy between them via the high-voltage direct current transmission device as a function of at least one of the detected received power and the detected emitted power.

2. The energy supply network according to claim 1 , wherein the at least two energy control devices each comprise at least one power converter which is coupled to the high-voltage direct current transmission device.

3. The energy supply network according to claim 1 , wherein the energy generating device is configured as one of an electrical generator and a fuel cell.

4. The energy supply network according to claim 1 , wherein one of the energy control devices is configured as a main energy control device, which is assigned to the energy generating devices on engines of the aircraft.

5. The energy supply network according to claim 1 , wherein a further energy control device is configured as an auxiliary energy control device, which is assigned to at least one of at least one a-generator on an auxiliary engine and at least one fuel cell in a tail region of the aircraft.

6. The energy supply network according to claim 1 , wherein at least one electrical supply line is provided and is adapted to couple stationary electrical loads to one of the energy control devices via a star connection.

7. The energy supply network according to claim 6 , wherein the stationary electrical loads are coupled to whichever one of the two energy control devices results in a shortest connection length of an electricity supply line.

8. The energy supply network according to claim 1 , wherein at least one secondary distributor is provided, arranged between one of the at least two energy control devices and at least one electrical load, and is configured to pass on energy from that energy control device to at least one coupled electrical load.

9. The energy supply network according to claim 8 , wherein at least one connection device is provided and is configured to couple at least one of at least two secondary distributors and electrical loads to an energy control device via a shared supply line.

10. An aircraft or spacecraft, comprising:
an aircraft fuselage which comprises a plurality of electrical loads, which are distributed in the aircraft fuselage and are each electrically coupled to at least one of an energy control device and a secondary distributor;
at least one energy generating device for generating electrical energy, which is electrically coupled to an energy control device; and
an energy supply network according to claim 1 .

11. A method for supplying electrical loads in an aircraft or spacecraft with energy by means of an energy supply network comprising:
at least one energy generating device for generating electrical energy;
at least two energy control devices, at least one of which is coupled directly to the at least one energy generating device and which are adapted each to provide a controlled supply voltage so as to supply electrical loads located in the aircraft with energy; and
a high-voltage direct current transmission device which couples the at least two energy control devices to one another by means of high-voltage direct current transmission, comprising the following method steps:
providing a controlled supply voltage for supplying electrical loads located in the aircraft or spacecraft via at least a first energy control device; and
transmitting electrical energy from a first of the energy control devices to a second of the energy control devices via a high-voltage direct current transmission device,
wherein, in a first mode of operation, a power converter of the first of the energy control devices operates as a rectifier and transmits energy to another of the energy control devices via the high-voltage direct current transmission device; and
wherein, in a second mode of operation, the power converter of the one of the energy control devices operates as an inverter when the power converter receives electrical energy from a second of the energy control devices via the high-voltage direct current transmission device.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein a decoupled operation is provided, in which there is no energy exchange between the energy control devices.

13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein a coupled operation is provided, in which there is energy exchange between at least two of the energy control devices.

14. A method for supplying electrical loads in an aircraft or spacecraft with energy by means of an energy supply network comprising:
at least one energy generating device for generating electrical energy;
at least two energy control devices, at least one of which is coupled directly to the at least one energy generating device and which are adapted each to provide a controlled supply voltage so as to supply electrical loads located in the aircraft with energy; and
a high-voltage direct current transmission device which couples the at least two energy control devices to one another by means of high-voltage direct current transmission, comprising the following method steps:
providing a controlled supply voltage for supplying electrical loads located in the aircraft or spacecraft via at least a first energy control device; and
transmitting electrical energy from a first of the energy control devices to a second of the energy control devices via a high-voltage direct current transmission device,
wherein transmitting the electrical energy comprises the following substeps:
detecting one of the received and emitted electrical power of at least the first and second energy control devices;
requesting an amount of energy by the second energy device if this second energy device requires a larger amount of energy than is available; and
transmitting this requested amount of energy from the first energy control device to the second energy control device via the high-voltage direct current transmission device.

Assignees

• Schroeter Torben
• Airbus Operations Gmbh

Inventors

• Schroeter Torben

Classifications

• H02J4/00 Primary

  Circuit arrangements for mains or distribution networks not specified as AC or DC; Circuit arrangements for mains or distribution networks combining AC and DC sections or sub-networks (arrangements using intermediate DC-AC-DC conversion H02J1/002; arrangements using high-voltage DC [HVDC] links H02J3/36) · CPC title

• B64D41/00

  Power installations for auxiliary purposes · CPC title

• H02J3/36

  Arrangements for transfer of electric power between AC networks via high-voltage DC [HVDC] links; Arrangements for transfer of electric power between generators and networks via HVDC links · CPC title

• B64D2221/00

  Electric power distribution systems onboard aircraft · CPC title

• H02J2105/32

  for aircrafts · CPC title