Multi-Objective Comparative Analysis of Active Modular Rectifier Architectures for a More Electric Aircraft

Abstract

Aircraft electrification requires reliable, power-dense, high-efficient, and bidirectional rectifiers to improve the overall performance of existing aircrafts. Thus, traditional bulky passive rectifiers must be substituted by active rectifiers, satisfying the requirements imposed by up-to-date standards. However, several challenges are found in terms of power controllability, due to the standardized passive rectifier-based operating conditions. This work presents the implementation of an active rectifier modular architecture for aircraft applications. An analysis of the technical difficulties and limitations was performed and three innovative modular architectures are proposed and designed. In order to find the most suitable architecture, a comparison framework is proposed, focusing on efficiency, volume, and reliability parameters. From the comparative analysis, it can be concluded that the two-stage configuration architecture is a good solution in terms of semiconductor life expectancy and low volume. However, if converter redundancies are required, the single-stage with STATCOM configuration is an excellent trade-off between low volume, redundancy, and cost-effectiveness.