Power control system for lightweight electric aircraft

Abstract

This article describes the development and key features of the lightweight electric aircraft power system. The overview includes internals of main power control units and propulsion system rigging, hardware parts selection guide and fail-safe features in hardware and software of aircraft. The propulsion system includes lightweight solution utilizing brushless DC (BLDC) motor with a propeller as the main thrust generator, and a control system, which consists of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) 3-phase bridge and control system, as well as a special optical-insulated throttle controller. Main power control system automatically starts up aircraft modules and provides all the necessary information coming from the sensors. All of the key components in aircraft are connected through Controller Area Network (CAN) interface. To create a strong protection against surges and electric interference special cabling and interfacing aspects between several systems of lightweight aircraft are described. Part of the article provides a future extendibility, versatility and economical concepts.