Electric Aircraft Energy Monitoring for Flight Plan Completion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electric aircraft face limitations in range and time due to finite battery energy, with factors like flight path length, weather, and propulsion device status affecting energy consumption, making it challenging to determine if they can complete a flight plan safely.
Innovation Solution
An energy consumption monitoring system that evaluates the aircraft's battery energy capacity, power output capability, flight plan data, and weather data, along with the status of propulsion devices, to determine if the aircraft can complete a flight plan and outputs warnings if it cannot.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If the battery stores more energy to extend flight range, then the operating range is improved, but the weight of the aircraft increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calculations of energy consumption based on flight path, weather, and aircraft status before flight execution. This allows optimal battery capacity selection in advance, avoiding both over-provisioning (excessive weight) and under-provisioning (insufficient range).
Solution Approach 2:
The monitoring system dynamically adjusts energy consumption estimates during flight based on real-time changes in weather conditions, aircraft status, and actual energy usage rates. This enables adaptive flight path optimization to maximize range without requiring additional battery capacity.
2Reliability
If the system monitors multiple factors (battery energy, power output, flight path, weather, component status) to accurately determine flight completion capability, then the reliability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The processing circuitry serves multiple functions: it monitors battery status, calculates energy consumption, evaluates weather impacts, assesses component health, and determines flight completion capability. This multi-functionality in a single system reduces overall complexity compared to separate dedicated systems for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The system combines data from multiple sources (battery management system, flight management system, weather sensors, component status sensors) into a unified analysis framework. This integration allows comprehensive reliability assessment without requiring separate complex systems for each data stream.
3Reliability
If the system provides real-time monitoring and warning messages to ensure safety, then the reliability is improved, but the loss of time for data processing and analysis increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates energy consumption for different flight scenarios and prepares warning thresholds before flight execution. This preliminary preparation reduces real-time processing requirements, enabling rapid safety assessments without significant time delays during critical flight phases.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback monitoring where real-time data is compared against pre-established thresholds and models. This feedback mechanism enables rapid anomaly detection and warning generation without requiring complex real-time optimization calculations, thus minimizing processing time while maintaining high reliability.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system may monitor energy consumption of an aircraft. The system may include a memory and processing circuitry in communication with the memory. The processing circuitry may be configured to receive aircraft status data that indicates whether one or more fault conditions are present on the aircraft; receive flight plan data corresponding to a flight plan of the aircraft; and receive battery data indicative of a status of one or more batteries, wherein the battery data includes an amount of energy stored by the one or more batteries and a power output capability of the one or more batteries. Additionally, the processing circuitry may determine, based on the aircraft status data, the flight plan data, and the battery data, whether the aircraft is capable of completing the flight plan; and output, based on determining that the aircraft is not capable of completing the flight plan, a warning message.