Fleet Aircraft Energy Module Distribution for Flight Demand Planning
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing aircraft power distribution systems face challenges in efficiently managing power demand for flight plans, particularly in optimizing the allocation of replaceable and dischargeable energy modules across a fleet of aircraft.
Innovation Solution
An energy management system that includes a controller module to receive flight plan databases, inventory databases, and estimate energy demands, determining the availability of dischargeable energy modules at specific locations, and generating a power source inventory distribution plan to allocate these modules effectively for flight plans.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If replaceable energy modules are used in aircraft power distribution systems, then power demand for flight plans can be met, but the complexity of managing and allocating these modules across a fleet increases
Solution Approach 1:
The energy management system continuously monitors the state of dischargeable energy modules across the fleet, tracking their locations, availability, and charge levels. This feedback information is used to dynamically adjust allocation decisions and generate optimized distribution plans that adapt to changing conditions, thereby managing complexity through intelligent control rather than static procedures
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary estimation of energy demands for desired flight plans before actual operations. By predicting power requirements in advance and proactively allocating dischargeable energy modules to appropriate aircraft locations, the system prevents power shortages and reduces the need for last-minute replacements, simplifying on-ground operations
2Productivity
If dischargeable energy modules are allocated across the fleet, then operational efficiency is enhanced, but the challenge of tracking and locating modules at specific positions arises
Solution Approach 1:
The energy management system serves multiple functions simultaneously: it estimates energy demands, tracks module locations, determines availability, generates distribution plans, and monitors fleet-wide power needs. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate systems into a unified platform, making the tracking and management of dischargeable energy modules across the fleet more efficient and less complex
Solution Approach 2:
The controller module acts as an intermediary between the physical dischargeable energy modules and the fleet operations. It receives data from various sources including flight plan databases and inventory databases, processes this information, and generates actionable distribution plans. This intermediary layer abstracts the complexity of tracking individual modules, presenting a simplified view to operators while maintaining detailed awareness of module locations and status
3Measurement precision
If energy demand estimation is performed for flight plans, then power allocation accuracy is improved, but the computational requirements and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system estimates energy demands for at least a subset of desired flight plans rather than attempting to calculate all possible scenarios. This partial action approach focuses computational resources on the most critical or likely flight plans, achieving sufficient accuracy for operational decision-making without the excessive complexity of comprehensive analysis of every possible flight scenario
Solution Approach 2:
The energy management system divides the fleet into manageable subsets and processes flight plans in groups rather than as a single monolithic problem. By segmenting the calculation workload across different aircraft and time periods, the system achieves accurate energy demand estimation for each segment while keeping overall computational complexity at manageable levels through distributed processing
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A method of operating an energy management system (100) for a fleet of aircraft (10, 110), can include receiving a desired flight plan database for the fleet of aircraft (10, 110), defining at least a desired flight plan for each of the fleet of aircraft (10, 110) and a location of each of the fleet of aircraft (10, 110), and generating a power source inventory distribution plan for the at least a subset of the desired flight plans for the fleet of aircraft (10, 110).