Power distribution system for an aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9660446-B2
Application number	US-201314045912-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 4, 2013
Priority date	Oct 4, 2013
Publication date	May 23, 2017
Grant date	May 23, 2017

Abstract

An aircraft power distribution system includes a first DC power distribution bus, a second DC power distribution bus, and a DC power source coupled with at least one of the first or second DC power distribution buses, wherein the DC power distribution buses are electrically coupled by a plurality of electrical couplings.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An aircraft power distribution system, comprising:
a first DC power distribution bus, a second DC power distribution bus, and a third DC power distribution bus;
a DC power source coupled with at least one of the first, second, or third DC power distribution buses;
a set of electrical couplings, wherein electrical couplings included in the set are coupled between the first, second, and third DC power distribution buses, and the set of electrical couplings enable transmission of power between the first, second and third DC power distribution buses; and
a solid state power controller positioned in-line on each electrical coupling, each solid state power controller comprising two power switches in a back-to-back configuration, each power switch comprising a field-effect transistor (FET) connected across a Schottky diode;
wherein a configuration of the first, second and third DC power distribution buses and the solid state power controllers defines a ring-type bus configuration, and the solid state power controllers selectively couple and decouple the first, second, and third DC power distribution buses across the set of electrical couplings.

2. The aircraft power distribution system of claim 1 wherein the DC power source comprises at least one of a generator or a starter/generator.

3. The aircraft power distribution system of claim 1 , further comprising a second DC power source coupled with the other of the at least first or second DC power distribution buses.

4. The aircraft power distribution system of claim 1 wherein the FET comprises a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET).

5. The aircraft power distribution system of claim 4 wherein the MOSFET comprises at least one of silicone carbide or gallium nitride.

6. The aircraft power distribution system of claim 1 wherein the DC power source provides at least one of 28 VDC or 270 VDC.

7. The aircraft power distribution system of claim 1 further comprising at least one DC electrical load coupled with each of the first and second DC power distribution buses.

8. The aircraft power distribution system of claim 1 wherein the FET and Schottky diode are configured in parallel.

9. The aircraft power distribution system of claim 8 wherein the back-to-back configuration further comprises an arrangement of the two power switches such that each Schottky diode is forward-biased away from the opposing power switch.

10. The aircraft power distribution system of claim 1 wherein each of the solid state power controllers are independently operable.

Assignees

• Toothman Steven Allan
• Radun Arthur Vorwerk
• Ge Aviation Systems Llc

Inventors

• Toothman Steven Allan
• Radun Arthur Vorwerk

Classifications

• B64D2221/00

  Electric power distribution systems onboard aircraft · CPC title

• B60R16/03

  for supply of electrical power to vehicle subsystems {or for (circuit arrangements for charging batteries H02J7/00)} · CPC title

• H02J1/12 Primary

  Parallel operation of DC sources having power converters with further DC sources without power converters · CPC title

• H02J9/00

  Circuit arrangements for emergency or stand-by power supply, e.g. for emergency lighting · CPC title

• H02J4/00

  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