New trends and challenges of electrical networks embedded in “more electrical aircraft”

This paper describes the main trends and future challenges of electrical networks embedded in “more electrical aircraft” especially in the fields of industrial electronics and energy conversion. In the first part, the current context and new standards are put forward, emphasizing the main evolutions on aircraft architectures, from AC fixed frequency networks, variable frequency to “Bleedless” architectures. The main characteristics of more electrical aircraft are discussed, especially in terms of power management rationalization, maintenance, health monitoring capacity, etc. The second part deals with the new trends and challenges of “more and more” electrical aircraft linked with power integration and new architecture with HVDC standard. Recent methodological orientations towards “Integrated Optimal Design” are discussed with representative examples. Finally, new trends towards reversible and hybrid HVDC networks including new storage devices are also emphasized.