Adaptive reactive power control for aircraft applications

Recent advancements in power electronics technologies are enabling new systems to be developed and applied to aerospace applications. The growing trend is to connect the AC generator to the aircraft engine via a direct connection or a fixed ratio transmission, thus resulting in the generator providing a variable frequency supply. This move offers benefits to the aircraft such as reducing the weight and improving the reliability. Many aircraft power systems are now operating with a variable frequency over a typical range of 350 Hz to 800 Hz which varies with the engine speed. This paper presents the results from a simple scheme for an adaptive control algorithm which could be suitable for use with an electric actuator (or other) aircraft load. The design of this system poses significant challenges due to the nature of the load range and supply frequency variation. Details will be given on the design methodology and simulation results obtained.