Impact Analysis of Multiple Electro-mechanical Actuators on More Electric Aircraft Power System

More Electric Aircraft (MEA) will drive sustainable development in the aviation industry, reducing environmental pollution and noise. Electro-Mechanical Actuators (EMAs) can carry out tasks such as rudder deflection and have great influence on the MEA power system, especially when multiple EMAs act together. However, most previous research focused on the enhancement of EMA performance or the input characteristics of a single EMA, in which the impact of multiple actuators working together on the power system has not been touched. In this article, an MEA power system model with multiple EMAs is built and the impact of multiple EMAs on power system stability is analyzed. Firstly, the functions of different EMAs are reviewed and the working scenes of multiple cooperative EMAs are designed. Afterward, the control schemes of speed-controlled and position-controlled EMAs are studied, after which the power system model, including generators, uncontrolled rectifiers, and EMAs, is built. Finally, the impact of EMAs on MEA power system stability is simulated in Simulink. The results show that speed-controlled EMA impacts the power system just when the command target changes and lasts for a relatively short period of time. In addition, position-controlled EMA continuously impacts the power system. To conclude, EMAs may cause significant voltage fluctuations in the power system and should be addressed by implementing control methods involving supercapacitors and batteries.