Early integration of quadratic programming-based power split control in electric aircraft charging system design

The adoption of Electric Aircraft (EA) has the potential to offer significant environmental advantages. Nevertheless, EA integration faces challenges, particularly in achieving practical operational ranges and establishing a reliable infrastructure for airport charging. Charging EA must adhere to rapid Turnaround Time (TAT), especially in domestic aviation, necessitating high-power charging solutions, in the order of megawatts (MW). This paper presents a framework for an optimized EA charging system, utilizing daily airport timetable data and an optimization-based power allocation method. A timetable represents one day of airport operations, including arriving EA and their TAT’s. Each arriving EA, assumed to use fixed (non-swappable) batteries, has a specific charging energy demand, that on top of TAT is a vital analysis input. Design variants are evaluated using a simulation tool that employs Quadratic Programming (QP) to allocate charging power among multiple EA. The QP formulation includes system constraints, with one key constraint being the airport's power capacity, which limits the total power available when multiple EA require concurrent charging. A distinct feature of the proposed design method is the early integration of optimization-based control. The motivation behind this approach is that underperforming power split control can lead to an oversized system. Design parameters, such as the number of EA that can be charged concurrently and the airport’s power capacity, are varied in a design study. Feasible design variants are generated by testing each candidate design parameter setting against multiple timetables. Here, "feasible" indicates that the airport can manage a variety of timetables without charging times exceeding the allowable TAT or causing operational queues. The design study demonstrates how charging system designs are generated in a data-driven manner.