A master thesis from Aalborg University
Energy Management for Fuel Minimization in Hybrid Fuel Cell All-Electric Aircraft: Modeling, Estimation, and Control of Nonlinear Systems
[Energy Management for Fuel Minimization in Hybrid Fuel Cell All-Electric Aircraft]
Author(s)
Term
4. semester
Education
Publication year
2025
Submitted on
2025-09-05
Pages
45 pages
Abstract
This work presents the development and integration of an Energy Management System (EMS) with a propulsion controller for an All-Electric Aircraft powered by a fuel cell, a lithium-ion battery, and a supercapacitor. Offline optimization identifies the optimal fuel cell current and the optimal cruise velocity, which serve as design targets for real-time control. The EMS is implemented as a proportional–integral (PI) controller designed to minimize hydrogen consumption while ensuring that the battery and supercapacitor state of charge (SoC) are depleted exactly at the end of a predefined mission distance. The propulsion PI controller maintains the desired cruise velocity and supplies the propulsion power demand to the EMS. A simplified Matlab model combining the EMS and propulsion dynamics is developed to demonstrate the approach. Simulation results show that the propulsion controller is able to track the aircraft velocity with minimal errors. The EMS on the other hand is not able to efficiently distribute the current between the three components.
Keywords
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