US 10,377,501 B2Granted

Thermopile energy storage for a rotary wing aircraft

AssigneeAirbus Helicopters

InventorMatthieu Connaulte

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A rotary wing aircraft having an electrical installation including at least one thermopile for powering at least one piece of electrical load equipment. Technical specifications for the thermopile specify: a usable power for supplying to the load equipment in the range 20 W to 200 kW, a power rise time lapse lying in the range 3 s to 30 s, and a low operating time for usefully supplying a predetermined quantity of electrical energy lying in the range 10 s to 180 s. The invention applies in particular to rotary wing aircraft.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A method of configuring a rotary wing aircraft, the rotary wing aircraft incorporating an electrical installation and electrical load equipment, the electrical installation including at least one thermopile and being suitable for delivering on demand a predetermined quantity of electrical energy to at least one piece of electrical load equipment, the method comprising at least a step of powering the electrical installation and the pieces of electrical load equipment in compliance with a definition of technical specifications for the at least one thermopile and for the electrical installation in operational terms, in structural terms, and in terms of arrangement within the aircraft, the step of supplying power in compliance with the technical specifications comprising:

a usable power for supplying by the at least one thermopile as a function of the quantity of electrical energy to be delivered by the electrical installation at least for the electrical load equipment;
a power rise time lapse of the at least one thermopile for rising at least to the predetermined quantity of electrical energy;
a low operating time during which the predetermined quantity of electrical energy can be supplied usefully by the at least one thermopile at least to the electrical load equipment;
and
an availability time tavailability during which the electrical load equipment does not require energy but the at least one thermopile remains hot ready for use at any moment;
wherein the usable power is predetermined in the range 20 W to 200 kW, the power rise time lapse lies in the range 3 s to 30 s, the low operating time for useful supply lies in the range 10 s to 180 s, and the availability time tavailability lies in the range 10 s to 300 s;
and wherein the step of supplying power in compliance with the definition of the technical specifications includes at least one maximization routine for maximizing the quantity of usable power Pload(t) supplied as a function of time t when the at least one thermopile is activated, the maximization routine controlling impedance matching electrical operation of the at least one piece of electrical load equipment, the maximization routine assuming that the at least one thermopile is equivalent, in application of a Thévenin conversion model, to a looped linear electric circuit comprising in series the resistance Rpile of the thermopile and the resistance Rload of the equipment, with the electromotive force emfpile of the thermopile, a load electric current Iload(t) and a load electric voltage Uload(t) of the equipment, such that the maximization routine determines a load voltage value Uload(t) that causes the following derivative to be zero:
dP
load
⁡
(
t
)
dI
load
⁡
(
t
)
=
emf
pile
-
2
*
R
pile
⁡
(
t
)
*
I
load
⁡
(
t
)
=
0
the load voltage Uload(t) being replaced when the resistance Rload of the equipment is equal to the resistance Rpile of the thermopile forming the source, such that the maximization routine adapts the load voltage Uload(t) so as to obtain:
U
load
⁡
(
t
)
=
emf
pile
2

48 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

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Abstract

a usable power for supplying by the at least one thermopile as a function of the quantity of electrical energy to be delivered by the electrical installation at least for the electrical load equipment;
a power rise time lapse of the at least one thermopile for rising at least to the predetermined quantity of electrical energy;
a low operating time during which the predetermined quantity of electrical energy can be supplied usefully by the at least one thermopile at least to the electrical load equipment;
and
an availability time tavailability during which the electrical load equipment does not require energy but the at least one thermopile remains hot ready for use at any moment;
wherein the usable power is predetermined in the range 20 W to 200 kW, the power rise time lapse lies in the range 3 s to 30 s, the low operating time for useful supply lies in the range 10 s to 180 s, and the availability time tavailability lies in the range 10 s to 300 s;
and wherein the step of supplying power in compliance with the definition of the technical specifications includes at least one maximization routine for maximizing the quantity of usable power Pload(t) supplied as a function of time t when the at least one thermopile is activated, the maximization routine controlling impedance matching electrical operation of the at least one piece of electrical load equipment, the maximization routine assuming that the at least one thermopile is equivalent, in application of a Thévenin conversion model, to a looped linear electric circuit comprising in series the resistance Rpile of the thermopile and the resistance Rload of the equipment, with the electromotive force emfpile of the thermopile, a load electric current Iload(t) and a load electric voltage Uload(t) of the equipment, such that the maximization routine determines a load voltage value Uload(t) that causes the following derivative to be zero:
dP
load
⁡
(
t
)
dI
load
⁡
(
t
)
=
emf
pile
-
2
*
R
pile
⁡
(
t
)
*
I
load
⁡
(
t
)
=
0
the load voltage Uload(t) being replaced when the resistance Rload of the equipment is equal to the resistance Rpile of the thermopile forming the source, such that the maximization routine adapts the load voltage Uload(t) so as to obtain:
U
load
⁡
(
t
)
=
emf
pile
2

48 more elements