In-flight charging control device for hybrid aircraft

Abstract

The invention relates to an in-flight charging control device for a hybrid aircraft comprising at least one electric energy generation source and at least two stored electric energy sources, each associated with at least one electrical switch, the device comprising a matcher (500) designed to receive a state indicator of each electric energy generation source and a state indicator of each stored electric energy source to determine one or more charging groups, each charging group associating one electric energy generation source with two stored electric energy sources, and to transmit each charging group to a corresponding monitor (510, 51n), each monitor (510, 51n) being designed to implement a state machine to retrieve input data, to determine from the input data a new current state machine state and a direct current current setpoint for each stored electric energy source in its charging group, and to transmit the new current state machine state and the direct current current setpoint to a charging parameter computer (520) designed to determine, based on the current state machine state and the direct current current setpoint of each monitor, a direct current voltage setpoint, a direct current current to direct current voltage conversion setpoint, a charging stop indicator and a forced charging indicator for each stored electric energy source, and an open or close setpoint of the electrical switch associated with the energy source to allow these stored energy sources to be electrically grouped.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of aircraft, and more particularly to the field of hybrid electric aircraft. Background Technology

[0002] Aviation electrification is one of the major challenges of the early 21st century. This electrification currently relies on two types of technological solutions: all-electric and hybrid.

[0003] In the first type of technical solution, the energy source is entirely based on batteries, therefore recharging is necessary between flights. In the second type of technical solution, the applicant develops and stores electrical energy (usually batteries) alongside an energy generation source (usually a turbine or fuel cell, etc.).

[0004] In the second scenario, one can imagine a situation where an electrical power source is used to charge stored electrical energy during flight.

[0005] However, these scenarios represent significant challenges. Indeed, in the aviation industry, avoiding single points of failure (SPOF) is crucial for obvious safety reasons.

[0006] Therefore, it is necessary to have multiple stored electrical energy sources so that power can continue to be supplied when one of the stored electrical energy sources fails, and to isolate them from each other to prevent any fault propagation, thereby avoiding single points of failure.

[0007] This isolation is not without consequences and carries the risk of creating large voltage differences between stored electrical energy sources. Indeed, the electrical characteristics of their circuits may differ slightly, thus resulting in different discharges for each stored electrical energy source. These different discharges lead to different states of charge and therefore different voltages, as the voltage depends on the state of charge of the stored electrical energy source.

[0008] Therefore, it is impossible to charge multiple stored electrical energy sources simultaneously by connecting them in parallel, because the voltage difference would cause one stored electrical energy source to produce harmful discharge / charge behavior on the other.

[0009] One technical solution for charging stored electrical energy during flight could involve charging each stored electrical energy source sequentially in a unit-by-unit manner. This approach would result in long charging times and suboptimal overall system performance, potentially leading to underutilization of the energy generation source.

[0010] To date, the problem is that, to the applicant’s knowledge, no hybrid technology solution has been able to charge stored electrical energy from an electrical power generation source in flight, taking into account the aforementioned technical limitations and regulatory constraints (requiring an architecture without a single point of failure). Summary of the Invention

[0011] This invention aims to improve this situation. To this end, it proposes an in-flight charging control device for a hybrid aircraft, the hybrid aircraft including at least one power generation source and at least two stored electrical energy sources, each stored electrical energy source associated with at least one electrical switch. The device includes a matching unit designed to receive status indicators for each power generation source and each stored electrical energy source to determine one or more charging groups, each charging group associating one power generation source with two stored electrical energy sources, and transmitting each charging group to a corresponding monitor, each monitor being designed to implement a state machine including states selected from the following group: The system is configured to maintain a stopped state, a standby state, a unit pre-charge state, a unit charging state, a group pre-charge state, a coupled state, and a group charging state to retrieve input data. This input data includes the current state machine state, the aircraft group charging indicator, the status and current indicators of the energy generation sources in its charging group, the charging indicator, voltage indicator, and maximum available power indicator for each stored energy source in its charging group, to determine a new current state machine state and a DC current setpoint for each stored energy source in its charging group from the input data, and to transmit the new current state machine state and DC current setpoint to the charging parameter computer. The charging parameter computer is designed to determine a DC voltage setpoint, a DC current to DC voltage conversion setpoint, a charging stop indicator, and a forced charging indicator for each stored energy source, as well as the on or off setpoints of the electrical switches associated with the stored energy sources, based on the current state machine state and DC current setpoint of each monitor, to allow these stored energy sources to be electrically grouped.

[0012] With the aid of a monitor, the device of the present invention can stagger and sequence the charging of stored electrical energy and manage its simultaneous charging when appropriate. This staggering and the resulting parallel charging allows charging time to be reduced by paralleling some of the stored electrical energy when voltage levels are sufficiently close. Furthermore, the device according to the invention can take into account the electrical architecture of a hybrid propulsion system, particularly the amount of stored electrical energy and the sources of power generation, to allow parallel charging of energy sources without creating single points of failure.

[0013] The monitors can be implemented at multiple computing locations on the aircraft, but must be installed onboard equipment to manage in-flight charging. It is not feasible to implement them at ground-based charging stations. Furthermore, in a degraded state following a failure, the device of this invention can receive the health status of the stored electrical energy to isolate the stored electrical energy that needs to be isolated, without grouping them with other stored electrical energy.

[0014] According to various embodiments, the present invention may have one or more of the following features: - Each monitor is software instantiated based on the matcher's transmission. - The monitor is always available, and the matcher's calls create a link between each monitor and the charging group. - The matcher is designed to identify one or more charging groups that include more than two stored electrical energy sources. - The matcher is designed to access a charging bank defined for the device's operating duration, which corresponds to one flight. - The matcher is designed to dynamically determine the charging bank.

[0015] The present invention also relates to an energy management system for an aircraft having a hybrid energy source, the hybrid energy source comprising at least one rechargeable power source and at least one power generation source, characterized in that it comprises: - The detector is designed to determine, on the one hand, status data indicating the state of components in the aircraft's power consumption circuitry controlled by the energy management system, and on the other hand, energy data relating to the instantaneous electrical power required by the aircraft and / or the charging status of the aircraft's rechargeable power supply. - An automaton, designed to receive energy data from a detector and determine the control state of an energy source, comprising at least three states selected from the group consisting of: * Buffer state, in which the required instantaneous electrical power is less than the capacity of one or more power generation sources and is supplied by them. * A charging state in which the required instantaneous electrical power is less than the capacity of one or more power generation sources and is fully supplied by one or more power generation sources, and where one or more power generation sources generate excess power for charging one or more rechargeable power sources. * Turbine state, where the required instantaneous electrical power exceeds the capacity of one or more electrical energy generation sources, and one or more rechargeable power sources supply the supplementation needed to achieve the required instantaneous electrical power. - The adapter is designed to receive status data and determine the backup electrical configuration when the status data indicates a fault. - The actuator is designed to receive status information from the automaton and determine electrical commands for one or more rechargeable power sources and one or more power generation sources based on the required instantaneous electrical power. - A switch, designed to command a switch in an aircraft electrical consumption circuit controlled by an energy management system to implement a nominal electrical configuration, or, if a backup electrical configuration is received from an adapter, to implement that backup electrical configuration, and - The in-flight charging control device according to the invention is designed to communicate with a driver and a switch in order to control the charging of the aircraft's rechargeable power supply. Attached Figure Description

[0016] Other features and advantages of the invention will become clearer upon reading the following description, which is taken from examples given as illustrative and non-limiting examples, taken from the accompanying drawings, wherein: - Figure 1 A schematic diagram of an aircraft including a device according to the invention is shown. - Figure 2 It shows Figure 1 A general diagram of an energy management system. - Figure 3 It shows Figure 2 A general schematic diagram of an in-flight charging control device. - Figure 4 An example configuration for a failure scenario is shown, and - Figure 5 It shows the result of Figure 3 The state machine is implemented by the device. Detailed Implementation

[0017] The accompanying drawings and the following description mainly contain elements with certain characteristics. Therefore, they can not only be used to make the invention easier to understand, but also help in its definition where applicable.

[0018] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of an aircraft 2 including the device 4 according to the invention is shown.

[0019] like Figure 1 As shown, the aircraft 2 according to the present invention includes an energy management system 4 according to the present invention, two horizontal drive groups 6 and 8, four vertical drive groups 10, 12, 14 and 16, and two power generation sources 18 and 20.

[0020] This type of aircraft is highly innovative and particularly well-suited to showcasing the potential of the Energy Management System 4. However, the aircraft could have a simpler architecture, such as a single horizontal drive group, one or two vertical drive groups, and a single power generation source.

[0021] As another variant, the aircraft may not be a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, but rather another type of aircraft, such as a conventional takeoff and landing (CTO) aircraft. In this case, the vertical drive group would typically be referred to as the takeoff and landing drive group, while the horizontal drive group would typically be referred to as the cruise drive group. As yet another variant, the distinction between the two different types of drive groups would no longer exist.

[0022] In the example described herein, the horizontal drive group 6 (correspondingly 8) includes a DC-to-AC converter 22 (correspondingly 32), an electric motor 24 (correspondingly 34), and an engine 26 (correspondingly 36), for example with a propeller. Engine 26 (correspondingly 36) is designed to allow the aircraft to move in a generally horizontal direction. In the example described herein, engine 26 (correspondingly 36) consumes 80 kW of power during flight.

[0023] The horizontal drive group 6 (correspondingly 8) is connected at its input to switch 28 (correspondingly 38), which allows the input to be connected to the output of the vertical drive group 10 (correspondingly 14) or 12 (correspondingly 16), as described below.

[0024] Vertical drive units 10 (correspondingly 12, 14, 16) include rotors 42 (correspondingly 46, 72, 76) driven by motors 52 (correspondingly 56, 82, 86) and rotors 44 (correspondingly 48, 74, 78) driven by motors 54 (correspondingly 58, 84, 88). Motors 52 and 54 are powered by corresponding DC-to-AC converters 62 and 64 (correspondingly 66 and 68, 92 and 94, 96 and 98). DC-to-AC converters, also referred to as inverters, are designed to generate AC current from DC current.

[0025] DC-to-AC converters 62 and 64 (correspondingly 66 and 68, 92 and 94, 96 and 98) are connected to the electrical bus of vertical drive group 10 (correspondingly 12, 14, 16), which is connected to battery 50 (correspondingly 60, 80, 90) and to the input of electrical distribution bus 108 connected to power generation source 18 and to the input of electrical distribution bus 110 connected to power generation source 20. Each battery constitutes a stored electrical energy source, and its coupling with the power generation source is the basis of the hybrid characteristics of this invention.

[0026] Finally, the electrical bus of each of the vertical drive groups 10 and 12 (correspondingly 14 and 16) is connected to its respective output, which is connected to switch 28 (correspondingly 38). As described below, when batteries 50, 60, 80 and 90 provide 100% of their capacity, they collectively provide 600kW.

[0027] In the example described herein, each power generation source 18 (correspondingly 20) includes, on one hand, a turbine generator 100 (correspondingly 102) and an AC-to-DC converter 104 (correspondingly 106). In the example described herein, each turbine generator is capable of providing 40 kW at 100% capacity. As a variation, the power generation source can be other DC or AC power sources followed by AC-to-DC or DC-to-DC converters. Thus, these sources can be based on turbine generators supplied with conventional fuels, biofuels, or synthetic fuels. As another variation, hydrogen-based energy sources, such as fuel cells, can be used.

[0028] like Figure 2 As shown, the energy management system 4 is designed to control power generation sources 18 and 20 on one hand, and switches 28 and 38 on the other hand, and also controls... Figure 1 Various protective elements not shown in the diagram.

[0029] analyze Figure 1 At this point, it can be seen that all motor and electrical components are repetitive. Therefore, single-fault safety can be ensured. Indeed, there are two horizontal drive groups, four vertical drive groups (which themselves form two subgroups connected to the same horizontal drive group), and two power generation sources.

[0030] In addition to this relatively routine repetition, the electrical bus specific to each vertical drive group and the electrical distribution buses 108 and 110 specific to each power generation source enable the single-failure safety objective to be achieved during the discharge operation of the stored electrical energy, that is, when the stored electrical energy stops or supplies power to the motor.

[0031] When charging these stored electrical resources via one or more power generation groups, an obvious method for charging the stored electrical resources would be to connect them in full parallel at electrical buses 108 and 110. This method would have the disadvantage of creating the aforementioned single point of failure.

[0032] In fact, as described below, Figure 1The specific structure of this aircraft allows for a true hybridization of electrical energy, rather than the juxtaposition involved in existing technologies. Therefore, batteries and energy generation sources can work together, depending on power requirements. However, beyond this, the architecture enables the battery to be viewed as a pure energy buffer. The battery is handled entirely passively, requiring no software or hardware intelligence beyond the basic intelligence needed to operate the battery management system. Such a system enables functions such as monitoring parameters (voltage, temperature, state of charge, health, etc.), preventing any risks from deviating from the expected operating range (overvoltage, overcurrent, overheating, etc.), and even optimizing battery capacity. This is completely opposite to all existing technologies, which either provide dedicated components to optimize battery operation and play a controlling role, or provide components to compensate for potential battery weaknesses, but in an exclusive, alternating manner—meaning the battery and the component cannot operate simultaneously.

[0033] Figure 2 It shows Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the energy management system 4. (See diagram below.) Figure 2 As shown, the energy management system 4 includes a detector 200, an automaton 210, an adapter 220, a driver 230, a switch 240, and a charging control device 250.

[0034] Detector 200 is a system designed to receive various data from aircraft 2, which will be optionally processed and transmitted in whole or in part to automaton 210 and adapter 220.

[0035] The data received by detector 200 therefore has two main properties: - On the one hand, the status data indicates the status of the components of the aircraft's electrical energy consumption circuit controlled by the energy management system 4 (stress level, temperature, limits, operating status, fault status, etc.). - On the other hand, the energy data involves the instantaneous electrical power required by the electric motors 52, 54, 56, 58, 82, 84, 86, 88 of rotors 42, 44, 46, 48, 72, 74, 76, 78 and / or the electric motors 24 and 34 of engines 26 and 36, and / or the charging status of the aircraft's rechargeable power supplies 50, 60, 80 and 90.

[0036] Therefore, detector 200 has a global view of the functional state of components related to power consumption, that is, the presence or absence of faults and the flight phase of aircraft 2, as well as the energy state of these components, that is, their instantaneous state and the instantaneous power demand related to the flight of aircraft 2 as determined in response to commands from the flight management system.

[0037] In the following text, unless another definition is explicitly mentioned, the instantaneous electrical power required always refers to the electrical power required by the motors 52, 54, 56, 58, 82, 84, 86, 88 of rotors 42, 44, 46, 48, 72, 74, 76, 78 and / or the motors 24 and 34 of engines 26 and 36.

[0038] In the example described herein, automaton 210 is a finite automaton, and exemplary embodiments thereof are described in... Figure 3 As shown in the image. Figure 3 As shown, automaton 210 has four possible states: - State 300, referred to as a "buffer," is in which the required instantaneous electrical power is less than the capacity of one or more power generation sources 18 and 20 and is supplied by them. - State 310, referred to as "charging," wherein the required instantaneous electrical power is less than the capacity of one or more energy generation sources and is fully supplied by one or more energy generation sources, and wherein one or more energy generation sources generate excess power for charging one or more stored electrical energy sources. - State 320, referred to as a "turbine," wherein the required instantaneous electrical power exceeds the capacity of one or more electrical energy generation sources, and wherein one or more rechargeable power sources supply the supplementation required to achieve the required instantaneous electrical power, and - An optional state 330, known as "silent", in which electrical power 18 and 20 are intentionally stopped to reduce noise pollution, which also enables the reduction of pollutant emissions.

[0039] Automaton 210 has a conversion designed to ensure: - On the one hand, minimizing the risk during state transitions to limit the failure risk associated with automaton 210 (and therefore energy management system 4), On the other hand, charge the battery as frequently as possible at 50%, 60%, 80%, and 90%.

[0040] Therefore, the state transition is based on two variables: - Required instantaneous electrical power, - Battery charging rates of 50%, 60%, 80%, and 90%.

[0041] First, once the required instantaneous electrical power exceeds the electrical power capacity of power generation sources 18 and 20, the buffer or charging state switches to turbine state. Indeed, in this situation, it is crucial to operate batteries 50, 60, 80, and 90 and power generation sources 18 and 20 simultaneously to provide sufficient electrical power for flight control.

[0042] Secondly, when the required instantaneous power is less than the power capacity of power generation sources 18 and 20, priority is given to charging the battery.

[0043] Therefore, the automaton 210 can transition from a buffer state to a charging state or a turbine state, from a charging state to a turbine state, and from a charging state to a buffer state or from a turbine state to a buffer state. However, it cannot transition from a turbine state to a charging state: it must first transition to a buffer state.

[0044] The reason is that, in this way, each state transition is conditioned on a single conditional change related to the required instantaneous electrical power or the battery's state of charge. Therefore, the reliability of the automaton 210 is improved because the risk of multiple consecutive transitions or no transitions is minimized.

[0045] The silent state 330 is an option in itself, as it depends on manual activation by the pilot of aircraft 2. Therefore, the pilot sends a command to shut down power generation sources 18 and 20, causing any state to transition to the silent state. Similar to the charging and turbine states, when this command is deactivated, the automaton 210 again transitions to the buffer state.

[0046] Therefore, the buffer state constitutes both the startup state and the basic state, as it makes the operation of the automaton 210 more reliable. It should be noted that the parameters defining the transition can vary. Thus, the transition from the buffer state to the charging state can be conditional on charging thresholds of batteries 50%, 60%, 80%, and 90%, and these thresholds themselves can be modified according to the operating state, functional state, and / or flight procedures of the aircraft 2. Similarly, the electrical power capacity of power generation sources 18 and 20 can be modified according to the operating state, functional state, and / or flight procedures of the aircraft 2. For example, in certain fault conditions, it may be necessary to operate one or more of power generation sources 18 and 20 at a capacity greater than their nominal capacity, such as 120%. The threshold for transitioning to the turbine state then needs to be adjusted accordingly. In the example described herein, this adjustment is performed by adapter 220, which adjusts the transition threshold, and by driver 230, which transmits this information to the control card of the power generation source (correspondingly, the control card of the power generation source).

[0047] As another variation, switching to silent mode may not be purely manual, but rather takes into account the environment of the aircraft, such as one or more parameters in flight altitude and geographic location.

[0048] Adapter 220 is designed to receive status data from detector 200. Based on this, adapter 220 is able to determine the fault state and the corresponding backup electrical configuration. For example, if the status data received from detector 200 indicates that motor 52 is faulty, adapter 220 determines that vertical drive group 10 needs to be isolated and returns an electrical configuration indicating that such isolation is required and that the electrical configuration of its contained components should be shut down.

[0049] Therefore, adapter 220 contains a table of all possible fault configurations, as well as a corresponding backup electrical configuration for each fault configuration. Similarly, if adapter 220 determines that there is no current fault, it can return the nominal electrical configuration, which may, for example, consider the flight phase of aircraft 2. The fact that adapter 220 contains a table of all possible fault configurations is intended to prevent any errors. As a variation, adapter 220 may determine the backup electrical configuration based on logical operations.

[0050] In fact, both the nominal and backup electrical configurations reflect the fact that disconnect switches must be activated and / or controls must be shut down. Indeed, Figure 1 Each component of the circuit is connected to the rest of the circuit via a switch (not shown), and the energy consumer and producer are also controlled to be turned on or off.

[0051] Continuing from the example of motor 52 failure, adapter 220 then determines the alternative electrical configuration for isolating vertical drive group 10, such as... Figure 4 As shown. This results in the backup electrical configuration instructing all switches within vertical drive group 10, namely the switch between AC-to-DC converter 104 and the input of vertical drive group 10 connected to DC-to-AC converter 62, the switch between AC-to-DC converter 106 and the input of vertical drive group 10 connected to DC-to-AC converter 64, the switch between battery 50 and the rest of vertical drive group 10, and the shutdown command for motors 52 and 54. The backup electrical configuration also instructs that all switches within vertical drive group 12 should be activated to switch power to that group, and that switch 28 should be switched to vertical drive group 12.

[0052] The driver 230 receives the state of the automaton 210 on one hand, and the electrical configuration from the adapter 220 on the other. Based on this, the driver 230 can control the rechargeable power supplies 50, 60, 80 and 90 and / or the power generation sources 18 and 20 based on the energy state corresponding to the state of the automaton 210 and the shutdown information indicated by the electrical configuration from the adapter 220.

[0053] For example, during takeoff, when the silent mode is activated, the drive 230 sends a command to shut down power generation sources 18 and 20. Shutdown should be understood as the drive 230 issuing a command to electrically disconnect the relevant components from the electrical system. In practice, this command may result in a state known as over-idle, where the relevant power sources operate at over-idle speeds, thus avoiding the need to shut them down for safety reasons (the risk of restart problems).

[0054] As another variation, this shutdown may result in a literal electrical shutdown: - During takeoff, while charging, the driver 230 sends a command to increase the power of power generation sources 18 and 20, so as to reduce the power output of batteries 50, 60, 80, and 90 to 0. - During takeoff, in turbine mode, drive 230 sends a command to increase the power of power generation sources 18 and 20 to their maximum capacity. - During the cruise phase, when charging, the driver 230 sends a command to increase the power of the power generation sources 18 and 20 until the power output of batteries 50, 60, 80 and 90 is equal to the reciprocal of the charging power indicated by the battery management system (that is, the battery actually receives that charging power). - During the cruise phase, in the buffer state, the driver 230 sends a command to increase the power of the power generation sources 18 and 20 in order to reduce the power output of batteries 50, 60, 80 and 90 to 0. - During the descent phase, in the buffer state, driver 230 sends a command to increase the power of power generation sources 18 and 20 in order to reduce the power output of batteries 50, 60, 80, and 90 to 0. - During the landing phase, in the buffer state, the driver 230 sends a command to increase the power of the power generation sources 18 and 20 in order to reduce the power output of batteries 50, 60, 80 and 90 to 0. - During the landing phase, in turbine mode, the drive 230 sends commands to increase the power of the power generation sources 18 and 20 to their maximum capacity, etc.

[0055] Switch 240 is designed to perform a binary AND operation between the configuration issued on one hand by adapter 220 and the electrical configuration caused by the state of automaton 210 on the other. Thus, continuing from the example of a fault in motor 52, when the state of automaton 210 is turbine state, for the switches of vertical drive group 10, the operation would be 0 (caused by isolation of the backup electrical configuration command issued by adapter 220) multiplied by 1 (caused by turbine state), which would return 0 for these switches. Once switch 240 has determined the state of all switches in the circuit, the corresponding command is sent to all switches in the circuit, and the cycle that started from detector 200 can be resumed.

[0056] Therefore, it can be seen that: - All components in the circuit that consume or generate power are connected to detector 200 to indicate their status. - All power supply components in the circuit are controlled by driver 230. - All switches and on / off commands are controlled by switch 240.

[0057] Therefore, the energy management system of the present invention completely separates the management of the power production mode (via automaton 210) from the management of the electrical configuration of the circuit consuming that power (via adapter 220). The driver 230 and the switch 240 are intentionally simplified elements such that each can receive the outputs of automaton 210 and adapter 220, and can take these outputs into account to control the power supply and the switch separately.

[0058] This decoupling of electrical circuit control is particularly innovative and beneficial because it forms the basis of an architecture that can be quickly and reliably deployed on all types of hybrid aircraft, regardless of the redundancy in their design.

[0059] Finally, the charging control device 250 receives information from the automaton 210 and the adapter 220, and transmits data to the driver 230 and the switch 240. The function of the charging control device 250 is to interact with various energy management elements in the aircraft 2 to manage the charging of stored electrical energy, particularly to achieve group charging (or grouping).

[0060] Figure 5 An exemplary implementation of a charging control device 250 is shown. The charging control device 250 includes a matcher 500, one or more monitors 510 to 51n, and a charging parameter computer 520.

[0061] The corresponding roles of these components are as follows: The task of matcher 500 is to create tuples that associate at least two stored electrical energy sources with electrical energy generation sources. Each tuple is transmitted to monitors 510 to 51n. Therefore, the number of monitors is the same as the number of tuples. In practice, there will typically be the same number of monitors as the number of active power generation sources. Each monitor's task is, based on the state machine and data received from automaton 210 and adapter 220, to determine the optimal charging configuration for the electrical energy stored in its triplet to be charged by its power generation source. The charging parameter computer 520 is designed to receive charging configuration from each monitor and, in return, transmit the necessary control data to the driver 230 and the switch 240.

[0062] Therefore, the charging control device 250, which is the subject of this invention, is based on a combination of three principles that allow coupled in-flight charging while ensuring redundancy and preventing single points of failure: 1) Define a charging group, which associates the power generation source with one or more stored electrical energy sources to be charged.

[0063] 2) Based on the state information of the aircraft and charging group components, the behavior of the charging group is controlled by using a state machine, which enables the prevention of any risks.

[0064] 3) Collect information from each charging group to return control and status information to the aircraft and control charging.

[0065] In a preferred embodiment, the matcher 500 executes only once per flight, preferably before takeoff. For operation, the matcher 500 receives a status indicator for each power generation source and a status indicator for each stored power source as input data. Therefore, the matcher 500 can associate each power generation source with two stored power sources each time to form a charging group. If one or more stored power source status indicators indicate that one is unavailable, the matcher 500 may need to associate only one stored power source with a power generation source. As a variation, more than two stored power sources can be associated with a charging group. Once charging groups are determined, they are each transmitted to the corresponding monitors 510 to 51n. This transmission can be performed by software instantiating a monitor for each charging group, or by transmitting the charging group as an execution variable to the monitor.

[0066] Furthermore, in the example described herein, the matcher 500 executes only once per flight, preferably before takeoff. This means that once the charging groups are defined, they will not change before the next flight. As a variation, the matcher 500 may execute periodically during flight or upon the occurrence of a specific event. It may then be useful for the matcher 500 to receive such event data as additional input data (e.g., recovery or loss of one or more stored electrical energy sources, charging prohibition information, etc.). In the case of the embodiment described herein, for example, the state determined by automaton 210 may be useful.

[0067] In the embodiments described herein, each monitor 510 to 51n receives the following as input data: current state machine state, aircraft group charging indicator, state indicator and current indicator of the power generation source in its charging group, charging indicator, voltage indicator and maximum available power indicator for each stored power source in its charging group.

[0068] These various inputs enable the determination of multiple transition conditions between the various states of the state machine. In the example described herein, the state machine has the following states: Stop state, Standby state, Cell precharge state, Cell charge state, Group precharge state, Coupled state, and Group charge state.

[0069] In the stopped state, the monitor stops. This could be due to a fault indicated by the status indicator of the power generation source, or a fault in one or more stored power indicators.

[0070] Standby state is the basic state of the monitor, and a transition is required to change from a state associated with cell charging to a state associated with group charging.

[0071] The cell pre-charge state is a state that the monitor must transition from standby to achieve the cell charging state. This state ensures the cell charging mode of the charging group when the stored electrical energy has significantly different charging levels.

[0072] A cell charging state is the state in which one of the stored electrical energy sources is being charged. This may be necessary when only one stored electrical energy source in a charging group needs charging, or when it is necessary to raise the voltage level of one of the stored electrical energy sources to a level sufficient to enable group charging.

[0073] The pre-charge state is the state that the monitor must transition from standby to in order to achieve the group charging state. This state ensures that the stored electrical energy in the charging group has a sufficiently close charging level to achieve the group charging mode.

[0074] The coupling state is the state preceding the group charging state and must be preceded by the group pre-charging state. This state is used to ensure the electrical parallel connection of the electrical energy stored within a given charging group.

[0075] Finally, the group charging state is a state in which multiple stored electrical energy sources are simultaneously charged by the energy generation sources in their respective charging groups.

[0076] The transition from standby state to cell precharge state may be caused, for example, by an aircraft group charging indicator set to zero (i.e., group charging is disabled) and a status indicator and current indicator indicating the available power of the energy generation source, while a charging indicator of at least one stored energy source indicates that charging is possible (e.g., in binary mode or because the charging indicator is less than the charging threshold).

[0077] The transition from the unit charging state to the standby state may be caused by receiving an aircraft group charging indicator indicating that group charging is possible, or by the fact that a charging indicator for the stored electrical energy that is being charged indicates that charging is no longer possible.

[0078] Therefore, each monitor is designed to periodically determine a new current state machine state based on input data, as well as the DC current setpoint for each stored electrical energy in its charging bank. Determining the DC current setpoint enables completely passive processing, requiring no software or hardware intelligence other than their battery management system.

[0079] Preferably, each monitor is designed to simulate the operation of a battery management system for the electrical energy stored in its storage group, so as not to leave any processing to them. This allows for specific control of the charging method, which can advantageously be based on a constant current, constant voltage model, that is, in a first stage, the stored electrical energy is charged with a constant current (and thus a DC current setpoint) until a selected voltage level is reached in the stored electrical energy. In a second stage, charging continues, this time with a constant voltage, until the current indicates that charging is complete. This charging paradigm is well known and well-suited for describing state machines for monitors.

[0080] Once each monitor updates its current state and the DC current setpoint for each stored electrical energy source, these are transmitted to the charging parameter computer 520, which generates two parameter structures, one intended for use with the aircraft management system and the other with use with the battery management system for the stored electrical energy source. In the above embodiment, the first structure is sent to the switch 240, and the second structure is sent to the driver 230.

[0081] In the example described herein, the first structure therefore includes a matrix of charging groups, which enables, on the one hand, the organization of electrical switching operations to direct current from the power generation source to stored electrical energy paired by the matcher 500, and on the other hand, the charging mode vector indicates, for each charging group, whether it is in unit charging mode (in this case, on which stored electrical energy), group charging mode, or standby mode.

[0082] In the example described in this article, the second structure includes a cascade of five battery management system control values ​​for each stored electrical energy source: - Constant current setpoint (for constant current CC charging mode). - Constant voltage setpoint (used by constant voltage CV charging mode). - Charging stop indicator - Charging trigger indicator, and - Charging end current threshold.

[0083] By convention, the charging stop indicator takes precedence over all other data. Therefore, if the current state machine state is cell charging or coupling, and the battery management system for the associated stored electrical energy activates the charging stop indicator due to a fault or other reason, the state machine will automatically transition to standby. The charging trigger indicator is conventionally activated when the charging stop indicator is deactivated, the cell pre-charging state or coupling state is activated, and the state machine determines that cell charging or group charging is now possible.

[0084] As can be seen from the above, the various states of the state machine allow for a very fine division of each step in the charging of stored electrical energy, whether grouped or ungrouped. The result is a protected charging control device 250, which can control the charging state at any time and ensure in-flight charging, optimized for each stored electrical energy, even in groups, without any risk of single point of failure.

[0085] The above paradigm is particularly advantageous because it enables the adaptation of charging control devices to a very large number of implementations based on a highly generalized architecture, without the need to recreate the architecture.

[0086] Indeed, in the above embodiment, the aircraft is a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, and its energy management system itself implements a state machine. Therefore, the charging control device 250 is naturally integrated into the energy management system 4. However, it can be seen that the charging control device 250 can be integrated as a standalone module into any hybrid aircraft, provided that the aircraft receives global information from the aircraft (e.g., faults, flight phases where charging is prohibited, transient states of components, etc.) and that the aircraft is capable of receiving this information to implement charging control.

[0087] Furthermore, its architecture offers considerable flexibility: if the power generation source is only connected to a portion of the stored electrical energy, the matcher will apply the association constraints based on this physical reality; however, if this is not the case, it is conceivable, for example, that the matcher will periodically execute to modify the charging group to associate the stored electrical energy with the closest voltage levels. As another variation, although each charging group described herein contains a maximum of two stored electrical energy sources, this number can be increased.

[0088] Defining charging groups allows for the instantiation of monitors based on the needs determined by the matcher. This means that computational resource consumption can be optimized by activating only the necessary monitors. Similarly, the separation between the monitors and the charging parameter computer allows for the decentralization of processing operations, thus preventing the risk of single points of failure. For example, if a monitor is unresponsive, the charging parameter computer can continue operating with other charging groups and signal to the aircraft management system that there is a potential problem with the charging group associated with that monitor.

[0089] Therefore, the charging control device according to the invention provides an algorithm using a state machine that enables the charging of associated batteries in a charging group to be sorted until they are brought to a voltage level difference that is considered acceptable, and then connected in parallel to charge these batteries in groups.

[0090] In addition to the possibility of group charging, the present invention not only provides the most flexible in-flight battery charging strategy possible, but also guarantees the possibility of in-flight charging, which is not known to date when it is necessary to ensure that there is no single point of failure.

Claims

1. An in-flight charging control device for a hybrid aircraft, the hybrid aircraft comprising at least one power generation source and at least two stored electrical energy sources, each stored electrical energy source being associated with at least one electrical switch, the device comprising... - The matcher (500) is designed to receive the status indicator of each power generation source and the status indicator of each stored power source to identify one or more charging groups, each charging group associating one power generation source with two stored power sources, and to transmit each charging group to the corresponding monitor (510, 51n). - Each monitor (510, 51n) is designed to implement a state machine including states selected from the group consisting of: stop state, standby state, unit precharge state, unit charging state, group precharge state, coupled state, and group charging state, to retrieve input data including the current state machine state, aircraft group charging indicator, status indicator and current indicator of the power generation sources in its charging group, charging indicator, voltage indicator, and maximum available power indicator for each stored electrical energy source in its charging group, to determine a new current state machine state from the input data, and a DC current setpoint for each stored electrical energy source in its charging group, and to transmit the new current state machine state and DC current setpoint to the charging parameter computer. - The charging parameter computer (520) is designed to determine the DC voltage setpoint, DC current to DC voltage conversion setpoint, charging stop indicator and forced charging indicator for each stored energy source based on the current state machine state and DC current setpoint of each monitor, as well as the on or off setpoint of the electrical switch associated with the stored energy source, so as to allow these stored energy sources to be electrically grouped.

2. The control device according to claim 1, characterized in that, Each monitor (510, 51n) is software instantiated based on the transmission of the matcher (500).

3. The control device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The monitor is always available, and the call to the matcher (500) creates a link between each monitor (510, 51n) and the charging group.

4. The apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The matcher (500) is designed to identify one or more charging groups that include more than two stored electrical energy sources.

5. The apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The matcher (500) is designed to access a charging bank defined for the operating duration of the device, which corresponds to one flight.

6. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, The matcher (500) is designed to dynamically determine the charging group.

7. An energy management system for an aircraft having a hybrid energy source, the hybrid energy source comprising at least one rechargeable power source and at least one power generation source, characterized in that... It includes: - The detector (200) is designed to determine, on the one hand, status data indicating the state of components in the aircraft's electrical power consumption circuitry controlled by the energy management system, and on the other hand, energy data relating to the instantaneous electrical power required by the aircraft and / or the charging status of the aircraft's rechargeable power supply. - An automaton (210) is designed to receive energy data from a detector (200) and determine the control state of the energy source, the automaton (210) including at least three states selected from the group consisting of: * Buffer state, in which the required instantaneous electrical power is less than the capacity of one or more power generation sources and is supplied by them. * A charging state in which the required instantaneous electrical power is less than the capacity of one or more power generation sources and is fully supplied by one or more power generation sources, and where one or more power generation sources generate excess power for charging one or more rechargeable power sources. * Turbine state, where the required instantaneous electrical power exceeds the capacity of one or more electrical energy generation sources, and one or more rechargeable power sources supply the supplementation needed to achieve the required instantaneous electrical power. - The adapter (220) is designed to receive status data and determine the backup electrical configuration when the status data indicates a fault. - The actuator (230) is designed to receive status information from the automaton (210) and determine electrical commands for one or more rechargeable power sources (50, 60, 80, 90) and one or more power generation sources (18, 20) based on the required instantaneous electrical power. - Switch (240) is designed to command a switch of an aircraft electrical power consumption circuit controlled by an energy management system to implement a nominal electrical configuration, or, if a backup electrical configuration is received from an adapter (220), to implement that backup electrical configuration, and - The in-flight charging control device according to any one of the preceding claims is designed to communicate with a driver (230) and a switch (240) to control the charging of the aircraft's rechargeable power supply.

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