Hybrid-Electric Aero-Propulsion Controls Laboratory: Overview and Capability

A hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) laboratory is developed to investigate control technologies
for electrified aircraft propulsion (EAP). The laboratory emulates a propulsion system by
reproducing the mechanical shaft interface to the electrical power system in hardware. The
experimental electric power system includes supercapacitor energy storage and a dynamically
variable electrical load. A novel method of scaling power and inertia is provided in software
to accurately reproduce the transient, off-design turbomachinery performance dynamics
without including actual turbomachinery. An overview of how the HIL system can
accommodate a broad range of EAP architectures, including power extraction and insertion,
with capability for transient energy management is described. The real-time system operates
in the 100kW power class and is instrumented to emulate turbomachinery – power system
interactions. The platform is an agile, flexible laboratory for low-cost, risk-reduction
development and testing of propulsion control, operability, and energy management
technologies.