Weight Reduction of Multiterminal DC Interruption System for Electric Propulsion in Aircraft

A new multiterminal direct current (DC) interruption system for electric propulsion in electric aircraft is developed in this study. The system comprises of interruption circuits, current-limiting devices, and energy absorption devices. The interruption circuit employs two parallel redundant configurations with insulated-gate bipolar transistors and an electromagnetic contactor connected in series. The circuit has a fast response of less than 100 μs and satisfies the catastrophic safety requirements for aircraft. For the current-limiting devices, matrix inductors that share magnetic cores among all power lines and reduce the weight by 36% are proposed. For the energy absorption devices, a common absorber circuit that shares metal oxide varistors (MOVs) between all power lines and reduces the number of MOVs from the number of terminals to one is proposed. The weight of the new multiterminal DC interruption system is estimated to meet minimum target of 50 kW/kg with 99.5% efficiency set by NASA.