Comparison between system design optimization strategies for more electric aircraft network

Abstract

The aircraft electric network is a complex system, consisting of many different elements integrated to form a unique entity, designed to perform a well-defined mission. In the current state, the network conceptual design is based on standards defined by the aircraft manufacturer. As a consequence, electric subsystem suppliers are doing local optimizations to fulfill these standards in a separated way through a “mechanistic approach”. This results in a set of optimized subsystems which is not necessarily “optimal” with respect to the network level. To overcome this problem, we present a design approach called EPFM (Extended Pareto Front Method) based on separated subsystem optimizations which aims at finding an optimal configuration of the electrical network at the system level. The EPFM is discussed with regard to the computational cost and the collaboration requirements in the aeronautical industrial context and compared with the classical mechanistic approach.