Work

Hardware-based electric drive train fault detection unit enabling fail-operational capabilities for aviation applications

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: The aircraft electrification process imposes safety requirements to ensure the reliability and availability of the electric drive train. Integrating multiple three-phase structures in the motor and inverter is a possible solution to meet these prerequisites. A critical condition to successfully implement such multiple three-phase structures is the ability to isolate faulty subsystems effectively from the overall system. The usage of traditional melting fuses is limited due to possible low short-circuit currents, as they cannot guarantee reliable isolation in such a case. A solution is the use of an active fuse in the DC link of the drive train. For the actuation of such an active fuse, a system is required that detects possible faults in the electrical drive train. This leads to a hardware-based electric fault detection unit (FDU). Therefore, this work aims to develop and simulative evaluate a redundant hardware-based FDU for an active fuse, in this case, a pyrofuse. A new solution that closed the gap in large scale electric propalsion aircrafts fault management concepts.

Source: Aerospace Science and Technology

DOI: 10.1016/j.ast.2026.111681

Authors: Leonard Kuhn, Markus Meindl, Christian Bentheimer, Martin März

Institutions: Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Systems and Device Technology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Language: English

Topic: Electrical Fault Detection and Protection

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,360