In-flight charging control device for hybrid aircraft

Abstract

An in-flight recharge control device for a hybrid aircraft, comprising at least one power source and at least two storage electrical energy sources, each associated with at least one power switch, the in-flight recharge control device comprising a matching unit (500) designed to receive status indicators for each power source and status indicators for each storage electrical energy source in order to determine one or more charge groups, each associating the power source with two storage electrical energy sources, and to transmit each charge group to its respective supervisor (510-51n). Each supervisor (510-51n) is designed to operate and run a state machine, to collect input data, to determine a new current state of the state machine from the input data, to determine a DC current setpoint for each storage electrical energy source in its charge group, and to transmit the new current state of the state machine and the DC current setpoint to a charge parameter computer (520). The charging parameter computer (520) is designed to electrically store the storage energy sources, and for each storage electrical energy source, it determines a DC voltage setpoint, a DC current to DC voltage transition setpoint, a charging stop indicator, and a forced charging indicator, based on the current state of each supervisor state machine and the DC current setpoint, along with the open or closed setpoint of the electrical switch associated with the storage energy source.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of aircraft, and more particularly to the field of hybrid electric aircraft. [Background Art]

[0002] Electrification of aviation is one of the major challenges at the beginning of the 21st century. This electrification is currently based on two types of solutions, namely all-electric solutions and hybrid solutions.

[0003] In the first type of solution, the energy source is exclusively based on batteries, which therefore must be recharged between flights. In the second type of solution developed by the Applicant, a stored electrical energy source (typically a battery) coexists with an electrical power generation source (typically such as a turbine or a fuel cell).

[0004] In the case of the aforementioned second type, it is possible to envisage a scenario where the electrical power generation source is used to recharge one or more stored electrical energy sources during flight.

[0005] However, these scenarios pose considerable challenges. Indeed, in the field of aviation, for obvious safety reasons, it is important not to create a single point of failure (SPOF).

[0006] For the foregoing reasons, it is both necessary to have a plurality of available stored electrical energy sources in order to continue supplying electrical energy when one of the stored electrical energy sources fails, and to isolate these stored electrical energy sources from each other in order to avoid fault propagation and avoid the formation of an SPOF.

[0007] The aforementioned isolation is not without effect, as it can create a large voltage difference between the energy storage sources. In fact, the electrical characteristics of the energy storage source circuits may differ slightly, which can lead to different discharges for each energy storage source. These different discharges result in different charge states, and since the voltage depends on the charge state of the energy storage source, this results in different voltages for each energy storage source.

[0008] Therefore, because a voltage difference between stored electrical energy sources would cause harmful discharge / recharge behavior in other stored electrical energy sources, it is not possible to charge multiple stored electrical energy sources simultaneously by arranging them in parallel.

[0009] One possible solution for recharging stored electrical energy sources during flight is to continuously charge each stored electrical energy source in a single manner. This approach would result in very long recharging times and a near-optimal overall system, potentially leading to underutilization of the electrical sources.

[0010] To the best of the applicant's knowledge, the challenge has been the lack of a hybrid solution that would allow the stored electrical energy source to be recharged from an electrical energy generation source during flight, given both the aforementioned technical limitations and the constraints imposed by regulations requiring architectures without a single point of failure. [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0011] The present invention aims to improve the situation described above. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] To that end, the present invention provides an in-flight recharge control device for a hybrid aircraft, comprising at least one power source and at least two storage electrical energy sources, each associated with at least one power switch, wherein the in-flight recharge control device comprises a status indicator for each power source and a matcher designed to receive the status indicator for each storage electrical energy source in order to determine one or more charge groups, each of which the power source is associated with two storage electrical energy sources, and to transmit each charge group to a respective supervisor, the respective supervisor including stopped state, standby state, single precharge state, single charge state, storage precharge state, coupled state, and storage charge state. We propose an in-flight recharge control device designed to implement a state machine including states selected from a group, to retrieve input data including the current state of the state machine and aircraft storage charge indicators, status indicators, and amperage indicators for the power sources in its charge group, and charge indicators, voltage indicators, and maximum available power indicators for each storage electrical energy source in its charge group, to determine a new current state of the state machine from the input data, along with a DC current setpoint for each storage electrical energy source in its charge group, and to transmit the said new current state of the state machine and DC current setpoint to a charge parameter computer. The charge parameter computer is designed to determine a DC voltage setpoint, a DC current to DC voltage transition setpoint, a charge stop indicator, and a forced charge indicator for each storage electrical energy source, based on the current state of the state machine and DC current setpoint of each supervisor, along with an open or closed setpoint of an electrical switch associated with the storage energy source, in order to electrically store the storage energy source.

[0013] With the presence of a supervisor, the device of the present invention, under the authority of the supervisor, enables the coordination and sequencing of charging of stored electrical energy sources and the management of simultaneous charging of stored electrical energy sources at appropriate times. Such coordination of charging and the resulting simultaneous charging makes it possible to shorten recharge times by parallelizing specific stored electrical energy sources when voltage levels are sufficiently close. Furthermore, the device of the present invention makes it possible to consider the electrical architecture of the hybrid propulsion system, specifically the number of stored electrical energy sources together with the power sources, in order to enable parallel recharging of energy sources so as not to create a single point of failure.

[0014] The supervisor may be implemented at multiple computer locations on an aircraft, but it must be mounted and housed to manage in the case of recharging in flight. For example, it is not possible for the supervisor to be implemented at a ground-based charging station. Furthermore, in the event of a degradation state following a failure, the device of the present invention enables receiving the health status of the stored electrical energy sources in order to isolate those stored electrical energy sources that need to be isolated and to prevent those stored electrical energy sources from being stored together with other stored electrical energy sources.

[0015] Depending on the various embodiments, the present invention may have one or more of the following features. - Each supervisor is instantiated in software based on transmissions from the matchmaker. - Supervisors are always available, and calls from the matchers create links between each supervisor and the charging group. - The matching unit is designed to determine one or more charge groups, each comprising three or more stored electrical energy sources. - The matching unit is designed to access charge groups that are determined over the duration of operation of the flight-compatible device. - The matching unit is designed to dynamically determine the charge group.

[0016] The present invention relates to an energy management system for an aircraft having a hybrid energy source comprising at least one rechargeable power source and one power source, - A detector designed, on the one hand, to determine status data indicating the status of elements of the aircraft's power consumption circuit controlled by an energy management system, and on the other hand, to determine energy data relating to the instantaneous power required by the aircraft and / or the charge state of the aircraft's rechargeable power source, - An automated device designed to receive energy data from a detector and determine the control status of an energy source, * The buffer state is supplied because the requested instantaneous power is less than the capacity of one or more power sources. * A charging state in which the requested instantaneous power is less than the capacity of one or more power sources, and is supplied overall by one or more power sources, and one or more power sources generate excess power that is used to recharge one or more rechargeable power sources. * Turbo state occurs when the requested instantaneous power is greater than the capacity of one or more power sources, and one or more rechargeable power sources supply the replenishment needed to achieve the requested instantaneous power. An automated device including at least three states from a group including, - An adapter designed to receive status data and determine the backup electrical configuration when the status data indicates a failure, - A drive unit designed to receive status information from an automated device and determine electrical commands for one or more rechargeable power sources and one or more power sources based on the requested instantaneous power, - A switch designed to issue commands to a switch in the aircraft's power consumption circuit controlled by the energy management system in order to implement the nominal electrical configuration, or in the event of receiving a backup electrical configuration from an adapter, to implement this backup electrical configuration, - an in-flight recharge control device according to the present invention, designed to communicate with a drive device and a switch for controlling the recharging of a rechargeable electricity supply source of an aircraft, also relates to an energy management system comprising the same.

[0017] Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of non-limiting example. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] [Figure 1] It is a schematic diagram of an aircraft including a device according to the present invention. [Figure 2] It is an overall block diagram of the energy management system of FIG. 1. [Figure 3] It is an overall block diagram of the in-flight recharge control device of FIG. 2. [Figure 4] It is a schematic diagram of an example configuration in a failure event. [Figure 5] It is a block diagram of a state machine implemented by the device of FIG. 3. DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0019] For the most part, the drawings and the following description contain components of specific nature. Therefore, the drawings and the description are provided not only to facilitate easier understanding of the present invention, but also to contribute to the definition of the present invention where applicable.

[0020] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an aircraft 2 including a device (energy management system) 4 according to the present invention.

[0021] As shown in FIG. 1, the aircraft 2 according to the present invention comprises the energy management system 4 according to the present invention, two horizontal drive groups 6, 8, four vertical drive groups 10, 12, 14, 16, and two electricity generation sources 18, 20.

[0022] The type of aircraft according to the present invention is highly innovative and particularly suitable for demonstrating the potential of the energy management system 4. However, the aircraft may have a simpler architecture, such as a single horizontal drive group, one or two vertical drive groups, and a single power source.

[0023] In another variation, the aircraft does not have to be a VTOL aircraft; it could be a different type of aircraft, such as a "conventional" take-off and landing (CTOL) aircraft. In this case, the vertical drive group is generally referred to as the take-off and landing drive group, while the horizontal drive group is generally referred to as the cruising drive group. In yet another variation, the distinction between the two distinct types of drive groups disappears.

[0024] In the examples described herein, horizontal drive groups 6 and 8 each comprise a DC-AC converter 22 and 32, electric motors 24 and 34, and engines 26 and 36 with propellers and the like. Engines 26 and 36 are designed to move the aircraft substantially horizontally. In the examples described herein, engines 26 and 36 consume 80 kW of power during flight.

[0025] Horizontal drive groups 6 and 8 are connected to switches 28 and 38 at their inputs, respectively, and switches 28 and 38 allow the aforementioned inputs to be connected to the outputs of vertical drive groups 10 and 14 or vertical drive groups 12 and 16, as described below.

[0026] The vertical drive groups 10, 12, 14, and 16 each comprise rotors 42, 46, 72, and 76, driven by motors 52, 56, 82, and 86 respectively, and rotors 44, 48, 74, and 78, driven by motors 54, 58, 84, and 88 respectively. Motors 52 and 54 are supplied by DC-AC converters 62, 64, 66, 68, 92, 94, 96, and 98, respectively. DC-AC converters, also called inverters, are designed to generate alternating current from direct current.

[0027] The DC-AC converters 62, 64, 66, 68, 92, 94, 96, and 98 are connected to the electric buses of the vertical drive groups 10, 12, 14, and 16, respectively. These electric buses are connected to batteries 50, 60, 80, and 90, respectively, and to inputs connected to the distribution bus 108 of the power source 18 and to the distribution bus 110 of the power source 20. Each of the batteries constitutes a stored electrical energy source, and the connection to the power sources is the basis of the hybrid characteristics of the present invention.

[0028] Finally, each electric bus in vertical drive groups 10, 12, 14, and 16 is connected to its respective output, which in turn is connected to switches 28 and 38. As will be referenced later, batteries 50, 60, 80, and 90, when delivering 100% of their capacity, deliver a combined output of 600 kW.

[0029] In the examples described herein, each power source 18, 20 comprises, on the one hand, a turbine generator 100, 102 and on the other hand, an AC-DC converter 104, 106, respectively. In the examples described herein, each turbine generator is capable of supplying 40 kW at 100% of its capacity. In variations, the power source may be another DC or AC power generation source followed by an AC-DC converter or a DC-DC converter. Thus, the aforementioned sources may be based on turbogenerators supplied with conventional fuels, biofuels, or synthetic fuels. In another variation, a hydrogen-based energy source such as a fuel cell may be used.

[0030] As shown in Figure 2, the energy management system 4 is designed to control the electricity sources 18 and 20 on the one hand, the switches 28 and 38 on the other hand, and also to control various protective elements not shown in Figure 1.

[0031] Referring again to Figure 1, it is clear that all motor and electrical elements overlap. Therefore, it is possible to ensure one fail-safe. In fact, there are two horizontal drive groups, four vertical drive groups which form two subgroups connected to the same horizontal drive group, and two electrical sources.

[0032] Beyond the aforementioned relatively conventional overlap, there are electric buses specific to each vertical drive group, in addition to the distribution buses 108 and 110 specific to each power source. This allows for the achievement of a one-fail-safe objective during the "discharge" operation of the stored electrical energy source, that is, when the stored electrical energy source is stopped or when the stored electrical energy source supplies current to the electric motor.

[0033] When recharging these stored electrical energy sources using one or more groups of electrical generators, one clear method for recharging the stored electrical energy sources is complete parallelization in the electrical buses 108 and 110. In that case, this method has the disadvantage of creating single points of failure (SPOFs) as described above.

[0034] As will be referenced later, the specific structure of the aircraft in Figure 1 allows for the actual hybridization of electrical energy sources, contrary to existing solutions involving juxtaposition. Thus, depending on the power requirements, both the battery and the power source can operate together. However, beyond this point, the aforementioned architecture allows the battery to be treated as a pure "energy buffer." The battery is handled entirely passively, without requiring any software or hardware intelligence other than the basic intelligence required to operate the Battery Management System (BMS). Such a system can monitor parameters such as voltage, temperature, charge state, and health state, and perform functions such as preventing risks of going outside the intended operating range, such as overvoltage, overcurrent, and overheating, or even optimizing battery capacity. This is completely contrary to all existing solutions where either a component is explicitly provided to optimize the operation of the battery and plays a control role, or a component is provided to compensate for the battery's potential weaknesses, but the only alternative is that, if there is no battery, this component can operate simultaneously.

[0035] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the energy management system 4 shown in Figure 1. As shown in Figure 2, the energy management system 4 comprises a detector 200, an automatic device 210, an adapter 220, a drive device 230, a switch 240, and a recharge control device (charge control device) 250.

[0036] The detector 200 is a system designed to receive various data from the aircraft 2, and optionally processes the data and transmits it, either fully or partially, to an automated device 210 or to an adapter 220.

[0037] Therefore, the data received by the detector 200 has two main properties, namely, - On the one hand, status data showing the status (stress level, temperature, limits, operating status, failure status) of the elements of the aircraft's power consumption circuit controlled by the energy management system 4, and, - The other is energy data relating to the instantaneous power required by the charge state of the motors 52, 54, 56, 58, 82, 84, 86, 88 of the rotors 42, 44, 46, 48, 72, 74, 76, 78 and / or the electric motors 24, 34 of the engines 26, 36 and / or the aircraft's batteries (rechargeable power sources) 50, 60, 80, 90.

[0038] Therefore, the detector 200 has an overall view of the functional status of the elements related to power consumption, on the one hand, an view of whether or not there are any malfunctions and the flight phase of aircraft 2, and also an view of the energy status of these elements, that is, their instantaneous status, and an view of the instantaneous power requirements for the flight of aircraft 2, which are determined in response to the FMS command.

[0039] Hereafter, the expression "instantaneous power" as requested will always refer to the power called by the motors 52, 54, 56, 58, 82, 84, 86, 88 of the rotors 42, 44, 46, 48, 72, 74, 76, 78 and / or the electric motors 24, 34 of the engines 26, 36, unless otherwise explicitly stated.

[0040] In the examples described herein, the automated device 210 is a finite automated device in which one example embodiment is shown in Figure 3. As shown in Figure 3, the automated device 210 has four possible states, namely, - A buffer state called "buffer" is supplied because the requested instantaneous power is less than the capacity of one or more power sources 18,20. - A charging state called "charging" 310 occurs when the requested instantaneous power is less than the capacity of one or more power sources, and is supplied collectively by four or more power sources, and one or more power sources generate excess power that is used to recharge one or more stored electrical energy sources. - Turbo state 320, called "turbo," occurs when the requested instantaneous power is greater than the capacity of one or more power sources, and one or more rechargeable power sources supply the replenishment necessary to achieve the requested instantaneous power, and - A silent state called "silent" 330 is implemented where the electricity sources 18,20 are intentionally shut off, which also reduces noise pollution and pollutant emissions. It holds.

[0041] The automatic device 210 is, - On the one hand, in order to limit the risk of failure of the automatic device 210 (and by extension, the energy management system 4), the minimum risk when deciding on a state transition. - On the other hand, recharging batteries 50, 60, 80, and 90 as frequently as possible. It has a transition intended to ensure that.

[0042] For the reasons mentioned above, state transitions involve two variables, namely, - The requested instantaneous power, - Recharge rate for batteries 50, 60, 80, and 90. Based on.

[0043] First, as soon as the requested instantaneous power exceeds the power capacity of the power sources 18 and 20, the buffer or charging state switches to the turbo state. In fact, in this case, it is important to operate batteries 50, 60, 80, and 90, as well as power sources 18 and 20, simultaneously to supply enough power to perform flight control.

[0044] In the secondary principle, when the required instantaneous power is less than the power capacity of the power sources 18,20, the priority should be to recharge the batteries.

[0045] Therefore, the automatic device 210 can transition from a buffer state to a charging state or a turbo state, and from a charging state to a turbo state, and can also transition from a charging state to a buffer state, or from a turbo state to a buffer state. However, the automatic device 210 cannot transition from a turbo state to a charging state; it must first transition to a buffer state.

[0046] The reason for the above is that this method is conditional on each state transition occurring in a single change of state relating to either the instantaneous power or the battery charge state for which the request was made. Therefore, the reliability of the automated device 210 is improved because the risk of multiple consecutive transitions or non-transitions is minimized.

[0047] The silent state 330 itself is an option in the sense that it depends on manual activation by the pilot of aircraft 2. Therefore, the pilot sends a command to switch off the electrical sources 18,20 and transition all states to the silent state. When this command is released in the same manner for the charging state and turbo state, the automatic device 210 transitions back to the buffer state.

[0048] Therefore, the buffer state constitutes the starting state and the base state, which make the operation of the automatic device 210 more reliable. It should be noted that the parameters that define the transition may change. Thus, the transition from the buffer state to the charged state may be conditioned on the charge thresholds of batteries 50, 60, 80, 90, which may be changed depending on the operating conditions, functional conditions, and / or the flight program of aircraft 2. Similarly, the power capacity of the power sources 18, 20 may be changed according to the operating conditions, functional conditions, and / or the flight program of aircraft 2. For example, in the event of some failure, it may be necessary to operate one or more of the power sources 18, 20 at a capacity greater than their nominal capacity, such as 120%. Therefore, it is necessary to adapt the threshold for transitioning to the turbo state accordingly. This adaptation is performed by the adapter 220 in the example described herein, which adapts the transition threshold and sends the aforementioned information to the power source control cards (each power source control card) via the drive unit 230.

[0049] As another variation, the switch to silent mode may not be purely manual, but may take into account the environment of aircraft 2, for example, by considering one or more parameters such as flight altitude and geographical location.

[0050] The adapter 220 is designed to receive status data from the detector 200. Based on this, the adapter 220 can determine the fault condition and the corresponding backup electrical configuration. For example, if the status data received from the detector 200 indicates that the motor 52 is faulty, the adapter 220 will determine that the vertical drive group 10 needs to be isolated, restore the electrical configuration indicating this need for isolation, and switch off the components of the vertical drive group 10.

[0051] Therefore, the adapter 220 includes a table (information, data) of all possible fault configurations and the corresponding backup electrical configuration for each of them. Similarly, if the adapter 220 determines that there are currently no faults, the adapter 220 can revert to a nominal electrical configuration that may take into account, for example, the flight phase of aircraft 2. The fact that the adapter 220 includes a table with all possible fault configurations is intended to guarantee against any errors. As a variation, the adapter 220 can operate based on logical operation to determine the backup electrical configuration.

[0052] In practice, the electrical configuration reflects the fact that isolation switches and / or off-switching controls must be activated, whether nominal or backup. Indeed, each element of the circuit in Figure 1 is connected to the rest of the circuit by switches (not shown), and the energy consuming and generating sides are also controlled to be switched on or off.

[0053] Taking the example of a motor 52 failure, the adapter 220 determines a backup electrical configuration to isolate the vertical drive group 10, as shown in Figure 4. This results in a backup electrical configuration that indicates all the switches in the vertical drive group 10, namely the switches between the inputs of the vertical drive group 10 connected to the AC-DC converter 104 and the DC-AC converter 62, the switches between the inputs of the vertical drive group 10 connected to the AC-DC converter 106 and the DC-AC converter 64, the switches between the battery 50 and the rest of the vertical drive group 10, and the off-switching commands for motors 52, 54. Such a backup electrical configuration also indicates that all the switches in the vertical drive group 12, along with switch 28 which should switch to the vertical drive group 12, may act to switch power to this group.

[0054] The drive unit 230 receives the status of the automatic device 210 on the one hand and the electrical configuration from the adapter 220 on the other hand. Based on this, the drive unit 230 can control the batteries (rechargeable power sources) 50, 60, 80, 90 and / or power sources 18, 20 based on the energy regime corresponding to the status of the automatic device 210 and the state of the off-switching information indicated by the electrical configuration from the adapter 220.

[0055] For example, during the takeoff phase, if the silent state is activated, the drive unit 230 sends a command to switch off the electrical sources 18,20. Switching off should be understood as the drive unit 230 issuing a command to electrically disconnect the aforementioned elements from the electrical system. In practice, this command may result in a state called "super idle," where the aforementioned energy sources operate at a super idle speed, thus avoiding the need to switch off for safety reasons (risk of restart problems).

[0056] As another variation, the off switch is - During the takeoff phase, if in a charging state, the drive unit 230 sends a command to increase the power of the power sources 18 and 20 in order to reduce the power output by batteries 50, 60, 80, and 90 to zero. - During the takeoff phase, if in turbo mode, the drive unit 230 sends a command to increase the power of the electrical sources 18,20 to their maximum capacity. - During cruising, if the vehicle is in a charging state, the drive unit 230 sends commands to increase the power of the power sources 18, 20 until the power output by batteries 50, 60, 80, 90 is equal to the reciprocal of the recharge power indicated by the BMS (i.e., the batteries actually receive this recharge power). - In the cruising phase, when in a buffer state, the drive unit 230 sends a command to increase the power of the power sources 18 and 20 in order to reduce the power output by batteries 50, 60, 80, and 90 to zero. - In the downward phase, when in a buffer state, the drive unit 230 sends a command to increase the power of the power sources 18 and 20 in order to reduce the power output by batteries 50, 60, 80, and 90 to zero. - During the landing phase, in a buffer state, the drive unit 230 sends a command to increase the power of the power sources 18 and 20 in order to reduce the power output by batteries 50, 60, 80, and 90 to zero. - During the takeoff phase, if in turbo mode, the drive unit 230 sends commands to increase the power of the electrical sources 18,20 to their maximum capacity, etc. In the literal sense of the term, it can result in an electrical switch-off.

[0057] Switch 240 is designed to perform a binary AND operation between a configuration emitted by adapter 220 on one side and an electrical configuration induced by the state of automatic device 210 on the other side. Therefore, taking the example of a motor 52 failure, in the state of automatic device 210, while the switches of vertical drive group 10 are in turbo mode, this operation becomes 0 (resulting from isolation caused by the backup electrical configuration emitted by adapter 220) × 1 (resulting from the turbo state), and returns 0 for these switches. Once the state of all switches in the circuit is determined by switch 240, the corresponding command is sent to all switches in the circuit, and the loop from detector 200 is restarted.

[0058] Based on the above, - All elements of a circuit that consumes or generates power are connected to the detector 200 to indicate their status to the detector 200, - All elements of the power supply circuit are controlled by the drive unit 230, - All switch and on / off commands are controlled by switch 240, This becomes clear.

[0059] Therefore, the energy management system of the present invention completely separates the management of the power generation mode (via the automatic device 210) from the management of the electrical configuration of the circuit (via the adapter 220) for consuming this power. The drive unit 230 and the switch 240 are elements of a deliberately simplified nature so that they can each receive the output of the automatic device 210 and the output of the adapter 220, and so that these outputs can be taken into consideration for controlling the power supply device and the switch, respectively.

[0060] The aforementioned non-correlation of electrical circuit control is particularly innovative and beneficial in that it forms the basis for an architecture that can be rapidly and reliably deployed in all types of hybrid aircraft, regardless of the redundancy in their design.

[0061] Finally, the charge control device 250 receives information from the automatic device 210 and the adapter 220 and transmits the data to the drive device 230 and the switch 240. The role of the charge control device 250 is to interact with various energy management elements in the aircraft 2 in order to manage the recharging of the stored electrical energy source, specifically to enable the stored recharging (or storage).

[0062] Figure 5 shows an implementation of one example of the charge control device 250. The charge control device 250 comprises a matching unit 500, one or more supervisors 510-51n, and a charge parameter computer 520.

[0063] The roles of each of the above-mentioned components are as follows: - The matching unit 500 is tasked with creating pairs that associate at least two stored electrical energy sources with an electrical source. - Each set is transmitted to supervisors 510-51n. Therefore, there are as many supervisors as there are sets. In practice, there are generally as many supervisors as there are active power sources. Each supervisor is tasked with determining the optimal charging configuration for the stored electrical energy source using the three power sources, based on the data received from the state machine and the automatic device 210 and adapter 220. - The charging parameter computer 520 is designed to receive charging configurations from each of the supervisors and transmit the necessary control data to the drive unit 230 and switch 240.

[0064] Therefore, the charge control device 250, which is the subject of this invention, enables coupled in-flight charging while ensuring redundancy and preventing the generation of single point of failure (SPOF) based on three principles, namely: 1) Define a charging group that associates an electrical source with one or more stored electrical energy sources that are recharged. 2) Controlling the behavior of the charging group based on aircraft status information and elements of the charging group by using a conditional machine that enables the operation to prevent any hazards, 3) To return control and status information to the aircraft and to store information from each charging group in order to control charging, Based on the combination.

[0065] In a preferred embodiment, the matcher 500 is run only once per flight, preferably before takeoff. To operate, the matcher 500 receives status indicators for each power source and status indicators for each stored power source as input data. Thus, the matcher 500 can associate each power source with two stored power sources to form a charge group each time. If the status indicators for one or more stored power sources indicate that they are unavailable, the matcher 500 may be required to associate only one stored power source with the power source. In a variation, three or more stored power sources may be associated with a charge group. Once determined, each charge group is transmitted to its respective supervisor 510-51n. This transmission is performed either in the form of an instantiation of the supervisor's software for each charge group, or by transmitting the charge group to the supervisor as an executable variable.

[0066] Furthermore, in the examples described herein, the matching unit 500 is executed only once per flight, preferably before takeoff. This means that once a charging group is determined, it remains unchanged before the next flight. In a variation, the matching unit 500 may be operated regularly between flights or when a specific event occurs. It may be useful for the matching unit 500 to receive data of such events as additional input data (e.g., recovery or loss of one or more stored electrical energy sources, or charging prohibition information). In the embodiments described herein, for example, a state determined by the automatic device 210 may be useful.

[0067] In the embodiments described herein, each supervisor 510-51n receives as input data the current state of the machine, an aircraft storage charge indicator, a status indicator, and an amperage indicator for the power sources in its charging group, and a charge indicator, a voltage indicator, and a maximum available power indicator for each of the stored electrical energy sources in its charging group.

[0068] The various inputs described above make it possible to determine multiple conditions for the transition between the various states of the state machine. In the examples described herein, the state machine has the following states: stopped state, standby state, single pre-charged state, single charged state, storage pre-charged state, coupled state, and storage charged state.

[0069] In a shutdown state, the supervisor is shut down. This may occur, for example, because a status indicator for an electrical energy source indicates a failure, or because one or more storage power sources indicate a failure.

[0070] The standby state is the supervisor's base state, and a transition is required to move from a state associated with single charge to a state associated with storage charge.

[0071] The single pre-charge state is a state that the supervisor must go through before transitioning from the standby state to the single charge state. This state makes it possible to ensure a single charge mode for a group of chargers when the stored electrical energy sources have significantly different charge levels.

[0072] A single charge state is a state in which one of the stored electrical energy sources is recharged. This state may be necessary when only one of the stored electrical energy sources in a charge group needs to be charged, or when the charge level of one of the stored electrical energy sources needs to be brought to a level high enough to enable storage charging.

[0073] The storage pre-charge state is a state that the supervisor must pass through before transitioning from the standby state to the storage charge state. This state ensures that the storage electrical energy sources in the charging group have a charge level close enough to implement the storage charge mode.

[0074] The connected state precedes the storage charge state and is always preceded by the storage pre-charge state. This state ensures the electrical parallelization of the stored electrical energy sources within the desired charge group.

[0075] Finally, the storage charge state is a state in which multiple stored electrical energy sources are simultaneously recharged by the electricity sources in the charge group to which they belong.

[0076] The transition from standby to single pre-charge state may be triggered, for example, by the aircraft's storage charge indicator being set to zero (i.e., prohibiting storage charge), along with the status indicator and amperage indicator for the power source indicating that power is available, while the charge indicator for at least one of the storage electrical energy sources indicates that charging is possible (e.g., in a binary manner, or because the charge indicator is below the charge threshold).

[0077] The transition from a single-charge state to a standby state may be triggered by the reception of an aircraft storage charge indicator indicating that storage charging is possible, or by the fact that a charge indicator for the storage electrical energy source to be charged indicates that charging is no longer possible.

[0078] Therefore, each supervisor is designed to determine a new current state machine state at regular intervals based on input data, along with the DC current setpoint for each stored electrical energy source in its charging group. Determining the DC current setpoint allows the process to be performed entirely passively, without requiring any software or hardware intelligence other than that of the BMS itself.

[0079] Preferably, each supervisor is designed to mimic the operation of the BMS of the energy storage source in its storage group, so as not to leave any processing undone. Specifically, this allows for the control of a charging method that may be based on a CC-CV model, namely, in a first stage, the energy storage source is charged with a constant current (and thus a DC current setpoint) until a selected voltage level is reached in the energy storage source. In a second stage, charging continues at a constant voltage until the current indicates that charging is complete. Such a charging paradigm is well known and can be applied particularly well to state machines described for supervisors.

[0080] When each supervisor updates its current status and the DC current setpoint of each energy storage source, that information is transmitted to the charge parameter computer 520, which generates two parameter structures, one intended for the aircraft management system and the other intended for the BMS of the energy storage source. In the above embodiment, the first structure is sent to the switch 240 and the second structure is sent to the drive unit 230.

[0081] Therefore, in the examples described herein, the first structure includes a matrix of charge groups, thereby organizing electrical switching operations to direct current coming from the power sources paired by the matching unit 500 to the stored electrical energy sources, while on the other hand, it is possible to organize a charge mode vector for each charge group indicating whether it is in single charge mode (in this case, in the stored electrical energy sources), storage charge mode, or standby mode.

[0082] In the examples described herein, the second structure has five BMS control values ​​for each energy storage source, namely, - Constant current setting value (used for CC charging mode), - Constant voltage setting value (used by CV charging mode), - Charging stop indicator, - Charging start indicator, and, - End of charging current threshold Includes concatenation.

[0083] Conventionally, the charge stop indicator takes precedence over all other data. Therefore, if the current state of the state machine is single charge or coupled, and the charge stop indicator is activated by the BMS of the relevant storage electrical energy source, the state machine will automatically transition to standby mode, whether due to a failure or otherwise. The charge start indicator itself conventionally operates when the charge stop indicator is deactivated and the single pre-charge or coupled state is activated, and the state machine determines that single charge or storage charge is currently possible.

[0084] As is evident from the above, the various states of the state machine allow for very fine-grained division of each step of charging, storing, or doing nothing for the stored electrical energy sources. As a result, the charge control device 250 is protected, which allows the charge state to be controlled at any time and ensures that in-flight charging, optimized for each stored electrical energy source, or even stored, is guaranteed without any risk of SPOF.

[0085] The paradigm described above is particularly advantageous because, based on a highly versatile architecture, it allows charge control devices to be adapted to a very large number of implementations without the need to recreate the architecture.

[0086] In fact, in the above embodiment, the aircraft is a VTOL, and its own EMS performs state machinery. Therefore, the charge control device 250 is essentially compatible with the energy management system 4. Nevertheless, it is clear that the charge control device 250 can be adapted as a separate module in any hybrid aircraft, provided that the charge control device 250 receives overall information from the aircraft (faults, flight phases where recharging is prohibited, instantaneous state of elements, etc.) and the aircraft can receive that information in order to perform recharge control.

[0087] Furthermore, the architecture of the charge control device 250 offers a great degree of flexibility, and if the power source is connected to only some of the stored electrical energy sources, the matcher will make associations constrained by physical reality, but otherwise, it may also be conceivable to regularly operate the matcher to change the charge group to associate the stored electrical energy source with the closest voltage level. As another variation, each charge group described herein contains a maximum of two stored electrical energy sources, although this number may be increased.

[0088] Defining charging groups allows supervisors to be instantiated according to the needs identified by the matcher. This means that the consumption of computing resources can be optimized by running only the supervisors that are needed. Similarly, the separation between supervisors and charging parameter computers allows for the isolation of processing operations and, consequently, the prevention of the risk of single points of failure (SPOFs). For example, if a supervisor becomes unresponsive, the charging parameter computer can continue to operate with other charging groups and signal to the aircraft management system that there is a potential problem with the charging group associated with that supervisor.

[0089] Therefore, the charge control device according to the present invention provides an algorithm that uses a state machine to sequence the charging of associated batteries in a charge group until the voltage level difference between them is considered acceptable, and to parallelize these batteries for storage and charging.

[0090] Beyond the realm of storage and charging possibilities, the present invention not only provides the most flexible in-flight battery recharging strategy possible, but also makes it possible to generally guarantee the possibility of in-flight recharging, which was previously unknown when the absence of SPOF (Single Point of Failure) must be guaranteed. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0091] 2 aircraft 4. Energy Management System 6,8 Horizontal drive group 10, 12, 14, 16 Vertical drive group 18,20 Electricity sources 22,32,62,64,66,68,92,94,96,98 DC-AC converter 24,34 Electric motors 26,36 engine 28,38 switches 42, 44, 46, 48, 72, 74, 76, 78 Rotors 50,60,80,90 batteries 52, 54, 56, 58, 82, 84, 86, 88 motors 100,102 Turbine Generators 104,106 AC-DC converter 108,110 Power distribution bus 200 detectors 210 Automatic equipment 220 adapter 230 Drive unit 240 switches 250 Recharge control device (charge control device) 300 Buffer state 310 Charging status 320 Turbo condition 330 Silent state 500 matching box 510~51n Supervisor 520 Charging Parameter Computer

Claims

1. An in-flight recharge control device for a hybrid aircraft, comprising at least one power source, at least one electrical switch, and at least two storage electrical energy sources, each associated with the switch, The system includes a matching unit (500) designed to receive status indicators for each power source and for each stored electrical energy source, in order to determine one or more charge groups to which each power source is associated with two stored electrical energy sources, and to transmit each charge group to its respective supervisor (510, 51n), Each supervisor (510, 51n) is designed to run a state machine including states selected from a group including stopped state, standby state, single pre-charge state, single charge state, storage pre-charge state, coupled state, and storage charge state, and is designed to retrieve input data including the current state of the state machine and aircraft storage charge indicators, status indicators, and amperage indicators for the power sources in its charge group, and charge indicators, voltage indicators, and maximum available power indicators for each storage electrical energy source in its charge group, and is designed to determine a new current state of the state machine from the input data and determine a DC current setpoint for each storage electrical energy source in its charge group, and is designed to transmit the new current state of the state machine and the DC current setpoint to the charge parameter computer. An in-flight recharge control device, wherein the charging parameter computer (520) is designed to determine a DC voltage setpoint, a DC current to DC voltage transition setpoint, a charge stop indicator, and a forced charge indicator for each stored electrical energy source, based on the current state of the machine and the DC current setpoint of each supervisor, along with the open or closed setpoint of the electrical switch associated with the stored energy source, in order to electrically store the stored energy source.

2. The in-flight recharge control device according to claim 1, wherein each supervisor (510, 51n) is instantiated by software based on a transmission by the matching unit (500).

3. The in-flight recharge control device according to claim 1, wherein the supervisors are always available and calls by the matching unit (500) create links between each supervisor (510, 51n) and the charging group.

4. The in-flight recharge control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the matching unit (500) is designed to determine one or more charge groups comprising three or more stored electrical energy sources.

5. The in-flight recharge control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the matching unit (500) is designed to access charge groups determined over the duration of operation of the in-flight recharge control device corresponding to flight.

6. The in-flight recharge control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the matching unit (500) is designed to dynamically determine the charge group.

7. An energy management system for an aircraft having a hybrid energy source comprising at least one rechargeable power source and one power source, A detector (200) designed to, on the one hand, determine status data indicating the status of elements of the aircraft's power consumption circuit controlled by the energy management system, and on the other hand, determine energy data relating to the instantaneous power required by the aircraft and / or the charge state of the aircraft's rechargeable power source, An automated device (210) designed to receive the energy data from the detector (200) and determine the control status of the hybrid energy source, The requested instantaneous power is less than the capacity of the one or more power sources supplied, thus creating a buffer state. The requested instantaneous power is less than the capacity of the one or more power sources, and is supplied overall by the one or more power sources, and the one or more power sources generate excess power that is used to recharge the one or more rechargeable power sources. An automatic device (210) having at least three states from the group including a turbo state in which the requested instantaneous power is greater than the capacity of the one or more power sources and the one or more rechargeable power sources supply the replenishment required to achieve the requested instantaneous power, When the status data indicates a failure, an adapter (220) designed to receive the status data and determine the backup electrical configuration, A drive unit (230) is designed to receive status information from the automatic device (210) and determine an electrical command for one or more rechargeable power sources (50, 60, 80, 90) and one or more power sources (18, 20) based on the requested instantaneous power, A switch (240) designed to issue commands to a switch in the aircraft's power consumption circuit controlled by the energy management system in order to implement the nominal electrical configuration, or in the event of receiving a backup electrical configuration from the adapter (220), to implement the backup electrical configuration, An energy management system comprising: an in-flight recharge control device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, which is designed to communicate with the drive unit (230) and the switch (240) for controlling the recharging of the rechargeable power supply of the aircraft.

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