By Pat Wheeler and Sergei Bozhko

The More
Electric
Aircraft
Technology and challenges.

he More Electric Aircraft concept offers many potential benefits in

the design and efficiency of future large,
manned aircraft. In this article, typical
aircraft electrical power systems and
associated loads are described as well as the exciting
future challenges for the aerospace industry. The importance of power electronics as an enabling technology for
this step change in aircraft design is considered, and
examples of typical system designs are discussed.
There has recently been a considerable and dramatic
change in the system design of some future aircraft.
Electrical systems are being used in applications that
have traditionally been powered by hydraulic, mechanical, or pneumatic power sources. The Boeing 787 and the
Airbus A380 both have significantly larger electrical systems than any previous aircraft. This increase in electrical energy use has led to a demand for rapid technology

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MELE.2014.2360720

Date of publication: 9 February 2015

I EEE E l e c t r i f i c a t i on M a gaz ine / december 2014

2325-5987/142014IEEE

development, particularly in power electronics. Electrical

systems can now be used for aircraft actuation systems,
wing ice protection systems, environmental control systems, and fuel pumping. The use and versatility of electrical
energy means that these new systems are enabling future
aircraft to be quieter and more fuel efficient improving the
environment for everyone as well as
reducing maintenance costs.
Power electronics is one of the
most important enabling technologies for the More Electric Aircraft.
Without the use of power electronics to convert and control electrical
energy, none of the benefits of the
More Electric Aircraft would be possible. However, aerospace applications present some challenging
operating conditions for power electronics, and there are still a number
of areas where improvements must
be made in terms of the weight, volume, cost, and reliability of power
converters and their associated systems. The operating environment
on an aircraft can be very harsh, and
the hours of operation and expected
lifetime are long in comparison to
many industrial and automotive
applications.

and weight gains should be possible if just one power

source is used for all systems. The chosen single source is
electrical power, as it has a number of advantages in
terms of flexibility and range of applications, hence the
More Electric Aircraft concept. A possible power system
concept for the More Electric Aircraft is shown in Figure 2,
showing the goal of requiring all of
the onboard loads to take their
power from an electrical system.
The aim of this historical step
change in technology is to reduce
operating costs, fuel consumption,
and the environmental impact of
future air travel. The removal of the
pneumatic system eliminates the
need for a bleed air system on the
gas turbine, which leads to a significant improvement in the efficiency
of the turbine. The removal of the
mechanical and hydraulic systems
may also lead to some reductions
in the overall weight at a system
level once the full potential of the
More Electric Aircraft technology
has been realized.
However, more importantly, electrical systems offer far more options
for reconfigurability as well as for
advanced prognostics and diagnostics. These prognostics
and diagnostics systems could help improve aircraft availability and reduce the need for unscheduled maintenance.
There is a potential for equipment on an aircraft to monitor
its use and environmental conditions and use profiles of its
own failure mechanisms to predict end of life, leading to preventative maintenance based on usage rather than simply
age or flying hours.

The removal of the

pneumatic system
removes the need
for a bleed air
system on the
gas turbine, which
leads to a significant
improvement in
the efficiency of
the turbine.

The More Electric Aircraft Concept

The main source of power for subsystems on large aircraft
is from the gas turbine engines, as shown in Figure 1. While
the gas turbines are primarily used to provide the thrust
needed for the flight of the aircraft, they must also be able
to provide the power sources required for all other loads on
the plane. Figure 1 shows the power sources and loads for a
typical large aircraft power system.
In a conventional large civilian aircraft, there are typically four sources of power derived from the engines: electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, and mechanical. The electrical system is used to power loads such as the avionics systems, lighting, and in-flight entertainment. The pneumatic
system, taken as an air off-take from the engine, provides
for loads such as the cabin pressurization and air-conditioning as well as wing ice protection. The mechanical system is used for fuel and oil pumping, mainly local to the
engine, and a hydraulic system is used for most of the aircraft actuation systems, both for flight-control and auxiliary systems. The total maximum power level of these
systems is usually in excess of 1 MW, a large power system for a relatively small platform.
Having four separate power systems on an aircraft is a
design that has evolved over time, each system being suitable for their dedicated loads. However, when the aircraft
is considered as a whole, it can be shown that efficiency

More Electric Aircraft Power Systems

A number of different voltage standards exist for the electrical system on large civilian aircraft:
xx
28 V dclow power loads/avionics on large aircraft
and complete electrical system on small aircraft
xx
270 V dc ( ! 135 V)military aircraft and some subsystems on some larger aircraft
xx
115 V ac at 400 Hzlarger loads on large civilian aircraft.
The use of the More Electric Aircraft concept obviously
puts a significantly larger load on the electrical system.
The typical installed capacity of the electrical system on
an existing medium-range aircraft, such as a Boeing 737, is
about 100 kW; and for the Boeing 787, this power level
increases to more than 1 MW. To reduce the current in the
electrical system and, hence, the cable weight, higher voltage electrical systems are considered. Some of the emerging standards include:
xx
540 V dc (! 270 V)
xx
230 V ac at 400 Hz

IEEE Elec trific ation Magazine / d ec emb er 201 4

Jet Fuel

Propulsion Thrust
(40 MW)

Gearbox-Driven
Generators

High-Pressure
Air Bled from
Engine

Gearbox-Driven
Hydraulic Pump

Fuel Pumps and

Oil Pumps on
Engine

Electrical
200 kW

Pneumatic
1.2 MW

Hydraulic
240 kW

Mechanical
100 kW

Figure 1. The power systems on a typical large civilian aircraft.

xx
230 V ac variable frequency (e.g.,

Power electronics
is one of the most
important enabling
technologies for
the More Electric
Aircraft.

320800 Hz).
Many large aircraft use a combination of these supplies, with 28 V dc
commonly being used for flight critical loads, such as Avionics, even on
large aircraft. The larger loads are
then supplied from a single or combination of higher-voltage ac or dc
systems. The first large civilian More
Electric Aircraft have chosen to use a
combination of electrical systems. An
example of such a system design for the high power loads
is shown in Figure 3.
In Figure 3, the electrical system shown is split into two
main ac buses, ac bus 1 and ac bus 2, which are fed from two

synchronous generators, SG1 and SG2,

respectively. The voltages at the outputs of these generators are controlled
by the generator control units, which
are similar to the automatic voltage
regulators found in power system generator controls. The generators are
usually driven by the main aircraft
engines, using the efficiency and energy supply of the main turbines. Large
loads on these ac buses include the
wing ice protection system and the
autotransformer rectifier units, which feed the two dc buses,
dc bus 1 and dc bus 2. In addition to the two main ac buses
there is an essential bus, which can be fed from either generator. This essential bus is used for the flight critical actuation

Jet Fuel

Propulsion Thrust
(40 MW)

Engine-Driven
Generators

Existing Electrical
Loads

Electrical
Cabin Pressurization
Air Conditioning
Icing Protection

Figure 2. A concept for the power sources on a More Electric Aircraft.

I E E E E l e c t ri f i c a t i on M a gaz ine / december 2014

Electrical
Flight-Control Actuation
Landing Gear/Braking
Doors

Electrical
Fuel-Pumping
Engine Ancillaries

SG 1

SG 2

GCU

GCU

F1
igen1
ac Bus 1

vHVAC1
SATRU1
F3

igen2

SHVB

ac Bus 2

vHVAC2

SWIPS

SATRU2

SACL

Essential Bus

iATRU2

iATRU1
SEMA1

WIPS
ATRU1

SEMA2
Other ac Loads

iCRU1

dc Bus 1

vHVDC1

CRU

SDCL

idcEMA

F2

idcECS1

vHVDC2

dc Bus 2
CRU

SECS1

ATRU2

CIU

SECS2

CIU

idcECS2

Other dc Loads
PMM

PMM

EMA1

EMA2

ECS1

Other dc Loads

ECS2

PMM

PMM

Figure 3. A possible More Electric Aircraft power system.

systems, represented in this diagram by two electromechanical actuators (EMA1 and EMA2), which are driven by permanent magnet motor drives. The most significant loads found
on the dc buses are the environmental control systems,
which maintain the temperature and
pressure of the passenger cabin of civilian aircraft.

Generation of Electrical Power

variable-speed shaft in the gas turbine; this gearbox can

be expensive to purchase and maintain. This constantspeed shaft drives a generator to give a constant-
frequency electrical supply, typically at 400 Hz. The
voltage from the generator can
then be controlled using an exciter
and a simple control loop, giving
the generation system shown in
Figure 4(a).
Figure 4(b) shows an alternative
technique for generating a constant
frequency supply with the generator
connected directly to the engine
shaft. The output of the generator will
then have a variable frequency related to the speed of the turbine. This
electrical frequency will change during the phases of flight of the aircraft
as a response to changing demands
for the gas turbine speed. This variable-frequency supply can then be processed by a suitably
designed ac/ac power converter and filter to produce a fixed
frequency and voltage s upply for the aircrafts electrical

Electrical systems
offer far more
options for
reconfigurability as
well as for advanced
prognostics and
diagnostics.

The increase in the requirement for

electrical energy on future More Electric Aircraft increases the demands
on the design of the generation systems. For the More Electric Aircraft to
be competitive with existing systems
in terms of weight and reliability, the
industry has seen the start of a number of fundamental developments in
the generation of electricity, including
the generator technology as well as
the choice of electrical system voltage and frequency.
Today, most civilian aircraft use a complex mechanical gearbox to create a constant-speed shaft from a

IEEE Electrific ation Magazine / d ec emb er 201 4

Va
Variable-Speed
Shaft
Constant-Output
Speed Gearbox

Constant-Speed
Shaft

Generator

Three Phase
400 Hz, 115 V

(a)
Variable-Speed
Va
Shaft

Power Converter
(ac/ac)

Generator

Three Phase
400 Hz, 115 V

(b)
Variable-Speed
Shaft

Three Phase
320800 Hz
230 or 115 V

Generator

(c)
Figure 4. (a) A constant-frequency generation system using a constant output speed mechanical gearbox. (b) A constant-frequency generation
system using a power converter. (c) A variable-frequency generation system.

s ystem. The ac/ac power converter can be realized using a

number of different power converter topologies including
matrix converters, cycloconverters, or back-to-back inverters.
This system design has the advantage that no gearbox is
needed between the gas turbine shaft and the generator;
however, the disadvantage is that this power converter must
process all the generated power and,
therefore, must have the full power
rating and high reliability to get the
required level of safety from the aircraft design. Unfortunately, power
electronics has not yet reached the
levels of reliability to make this option
viable, and it remains a rarely chosen
configuration despite being considered, and occasionally used, over the
last 30 years.
If the electrical system and associated loads can be designed to operate with a variable frequency, then it
is possible to connect a generator
directly to a shaft in the gas turbine
and the electrical output directly to
the aircrafts electrical system, as
shown in Figure 4(c). The electrical
output of the generator provides a variable-frequency
supply with the frequency related to the speed of the gas
turbine, typically in the range from 320 to 800 Hz. The
advantage of this variable-frequency system is the direct
connection between the generator output and the electrical power system, giving a simple and potentially very
reliable configuration. The disadvantage is that nearly all

aircraft loads will require power converters for control, as

the variable-frequency supply cannot be used directly for
most applications. However, many applications, actuators, for example, require this power conversion stage for
control even when operated from a fixed frequency supply. Having many distributed power converters gives a lot
more options for a safe aircraft system design as redundancy can be
built in at the systems level, avoiding
any single points of failure within
the design.

The use and

versatility of
electrical energy
means that these
new systems are
enabling future
aircraft to be quieter
and more fuel
efficient.

10

I E E E E l e c t ri f i c a t i on M a gaz ine / december 2014

Actuation Loads

On modern aircraft, hydraulic actuators are used to move the control

surfaces to the control plane. Three
degrees of control are critical for
flight: roll, pitch, and yaw of the
plane. These flight-critical control
surfaces are the rudder, ailerons, and
elevators and are referred to as the
primary flight-control actuators.
Other control surfaces, such as flaps
and slats, are not critical for flight,
and, therefore, the actuators for
these surfaces are referred to as secondary actuators.
These surfaces are useful for the comfort and efficiency of
flight but the aircraft can be flown without these secondary control surfaces if needed.
When replacing hydraulic actuators with electrically
powered actuators, the most obvious choice is to use an
EMA, as shown in Figure 5. Using an EMA system, an aircraft

Electric
Motor
Reduction
Gearbox

Ball
Screw

Figure 5. A system diagram for an EMA.

Three-Phase
Supply
Electric
Motor

Power
Converter

Fixed
Displacement
Pump
Hydraulic Ram

Figure 6. A system diagram of an EHA.

Architectural
Layer

om

rea

lC

nc

ls I

tai

Functional Layer

De

ple
xit
y

of

Inc

rea

se
s

switching frequency of many power converters. This layer

is representative of the actual system waveforms and can
therefore be used in the design of passive filters for harmonic and switching frequency components. This layer is
certainly the most detailed layer used for electrical power
system modeling, but the time range is usually low due to
the complexity of the models.
The functional layer is used to represent transient
behavior at frequencies typically up to a couple of hundred
hertz. The usual purpose of functional simulations is to
look at the electrical power system dynamics and stability

l
ve
Le

Behavioral Layer

se

The design and successful deployment of future electrical

power system architectures will involve extensive modeling
and simulation activities to ensure the stability and integrity
of the system over a very wide range of operating scenarios,
many of which will rarely be encountered during flight. It is,
therefore, necessary to have a robust and reasonably standardized approach to modeling the electrical system. For this
reason, a number of modeling levels have been defined and
are generally accepted as useful for different models and
required simulation study outcomes. Figure 7 shows these
levels; the higher the level, the more time efficient the model,
but the more the detail is sacrificed to achieve faster simulation times. Each of these levels has proved useful in the complete system design process of a More Electric Aircraft and
further refinements and optimization of modeling techniques are being made.
The device physical layer is used to represent a piece of
equipment of the device on the system. These models typically have a very high bandwidth and can represent very fast
transients within the device and its surroundings. Typically,
such models are used for equipment or device verification
and in-depth analysis of its behavior locally with the supplier
or manufacturer. This detailed level of modeling is not usually extended beyond the design of an individual component
or piece of equipment within the system and is, therefore,
rarely used for the simulation of an electrical power system.
The behavioral layer uses lumped parameter subsystem models and is capable of simulating frequencies up to
a few hundred kilohertz, a frequency range that covers the

Power
Converter

de

Electrical Power System Modeling

Three-Phase
Supply

Mo

control surface can be controlled by simply controlling the

motor. As the motor turns, it moves a ball screw, often
through a reduction gearbox. Each turn of the motor displaces the actuator by a fixed amount due to the direct
connection between the motor and the ball screw. However, there is a problem in using EMAs for primary flightcontrol applications on large aircraft as, to date, it has
been very difficult to guarantee that the ball screw will
never jam. A jam in an actuator for a flight-critical control
surface would cause problems in the current design of the
aircraft as the surface would not be controllable unless a
benign failure mode of the actuator can be guaranteed. A
jam in a ball screw is not a benign failure as another actuator on the same control surface would not be able to
move the surface if one actuator has jammed.
An alternative to the EMA is the electro-hydrostatic
actuator (EHA), which has a system driven by local
hydraulics and controlled with a fixed displacement
pump driven by an electrical motor. The actuator position
moves by a fixed displacement for each revolution of the
motor, as shown in Figure 6. There is no direct mechanical
connection between the motor and the actuator arm;
hence, the EHA has benign failure modes, giving the system a significant advantage when compared to EMAs for
primary flight-control applications.

Device Physical Layer

Figure 7. The commonly defined modeling levels for MEA electrical

power systems.

IEEE Electrific ation Magazine / d ec emb er 201 4

11

The electrical
system is used
to power loads
such as the avionics
systems, lighting,
and in-flight
entertainment.
as well as the low-frequency power quality. Models at this
layer are based on nonswitching averaged models of equipment. Simulation studies at this layer are capable of running at near-real-time speeds and so the behavior of the
electrical system during flight profiles can be performed.
Figure 8 shows a typical comparison between the
behavioral and functional level models. This example is
for the loss of one generator and the subsequent reconfiguration of the electrical system, as shown in Figure 3.
The fictional model accurately captures the transient
activity of the system variables, but the behavioral model
also captures the high-frequency switching components
in the waveforms.
The architectural layer is used for top-level global electrical power system architecture studies. The architectural
layer does not model transient dynamics, but considers
the global system in steady state. The main use of models
in this layer is for sizing and system-level design.

Conclusion
This article has introduced some of the solutions and technologies being developed for the More Electric Aircraft. The

vhvac (V)

400
300
200
100

Behavioral
Functional

0
1.195 1.2 1.205 1.2 1.215 1.2 1.225 1.23 1.235 1.24
(a)

vhvac2 (V)

340
320
300
280

Behavioral
Functional

1.195 1.2 1.205 1.2 1.215 1.2 1.225 1.23 1.235 1.24
(b)
Figure 8. The transient response of VHVAC1 and VHVAC2 on SG1 loss.

12

I E E E E l e c t ri f i c a t i on M a gaz ine / december 2014

article has considered power generation, typical loads, and

electrical actuation systems as well as electrical power system voltage and frequency. These technologies have the
potential to make a relatively small improvement in the
overall efficiency of an aircraft, but this efficiency savings
will result in a massive savings in fuel costs over the life of
an aircraft and a considerable reduction in emissions from
air travel.

Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the funding through the
European Union-funded Clean Sky JTI project, which made
this work possible as well as the contribution to this work
of many members of the Power Electronics, Machines, and
Control Group at the University of Nottingham.

Further Reading
K. Karimi, Role of power electronics in more-electric-
airplanes, in Proc. European Power Electronics Conf., U.K.,
Sept. 2011, pp. 4954.
I. Moir, More-electric aircraft-system considerations,
in Proc. IEE Colloqu. Electrical Machines and Systems for the
More Electric Aircraft, 1999, pp. 10/110/9.
P. Wheeler, The More Electric AircraftThe importance of
power electronics, in Proc. European Power Electronics Conf.,
Spain, Sept. 2009, pp. 201206.
T. Jomier, More open electric technologiesFinal
report, EU FP6 Project Rep., Dec. 2009.

Biographies
Pat Wheeler (Pat.wheeler@nottingham.ac.uk) is a professor of power electronic systems and director of the
Institute of Aerospace Technology at the University of
Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Sergei Bozhko (serhiy.bozhko@nottingham.ac.uk) is a
principle research fellow in the Power Electronics,
Machines, and Control Research Group at the University of
Nottingham, United Kingdom.