Aircraft Battery Charging Control With Redundant Pack Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electric aircraft power systems lack redundancy to prevent single points of failure, require efficient battery charging based on flight information, and need safe shutdown mechanisms for first responders.
Innovation Solution
A high voltage power system with paired battery pack units that act as backups, controlled by a battery management system, and low voltage cut loops for safe shutdown, integrated with a distributed electrical propulsion system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If battery packs are connected in a paired unit with electrical separation between units, then redundancy and fault isolation are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The battery system is divided into multiple paired battery pack units, where each unit contains two battery packs connected via a high voltage bus. The units are electrically separated from each other, creating distinct segments that can operate independently. This segmentation provides redundancy while containing fault propagation within individual units.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the electrical connection between battery pack units by removing the high voltage bus connection between units, leaving only communication links. This extraction isolates faults to individual units while maintaining system-level monitoring and control through the remaining communication infrastructure.
2Productivity
If a single point of charging is used for multiple battery packs, then charging efficiency is improved, but the risk of fault propagation increases
Solution Approach 1:
A charging management system acts as an intermediary between the external charging source and multiple battery packs. This mediator intelligently routes charging current to appropriate battery packs based on their state of charge and health, enabling efficient single-point charging while preventing fault propagation through controlled connection management.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If low voltage cut loops are routed to the tail of the aircraft, then safety for first responders is improved, but wiring complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The low voltage cut loops are extracted from the main high voltage wiring harness and routed separately to the tail of the aircraft. This physical extraction creates a dedicated safety circuit that is spatially separated from high voltage components, reducing the risk of accidental contact while maintaining straightforward wiring through dedicated pathways.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments are provided for charging system for an aircraft. The charging system may comprise a plurality of electric propeller units (EPUs), a plurality of battery packs configured to power the plurality of EPUs, a charge control unit configured to determine a target charge level for each of the plurality of battery packs, receive charge status information from each of the plurality of battery packs, and upon determining that a target charge level of at least one of the battery packs has been reached, command the at least one battery pack to disconnect from a common charging bus having a high voltage connection to a power source external to the aircraft.