Optimised temperature fluctuation control strategy for lifetime improvement in aircraft electrical power distribution system

Abstract

As a power electronic converter with bidirectional energy transmission, the Dual Active Bridge (DAB) has a broad application prospect in the electrical power distribution system of hybrid-electric flight. For the DAB application in the electrical power distribution system, high efficiency and high reliability are envisaged due to the mission-critical nature of the application. A new pulse width modulation optimization control strategy is proposed, which is based on the feedback temperature fluctuations of the GaN (Gallium Nitride) power transistors, to improve the lifetime of the whole circuit. The complete topology and simulations of the DAB converter are carried out in PLECS. Detailed simulation results manifest the precise lifetime of the GaN power transistors and verify the accuracy of the new optimization control strategy. Meanwhile, Insulated Gate Bipolar Translator is set as a control group to compare the lifetime of conventional silicon-based power devices with the GaN power transistor. Hardware In Loop platform test is built to further validate the proposed method.