SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AIRCRAFT ENGINE THERMAL OPTIMIZATION
Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to systems and methods for flight control of aircrafts driven by electric propulsion systems and in other types of vehicles. In some embodiments, a system of an aircraft is disclosed, configured to determine one or more desired commands for the aircraft, retrieve engine information for at least one electric propulsion unit (EPU) of a plurality of EPUs of the aircraft, wherein the engine information includes at least one time-based metric for temperature associated with the at least one EPU, generates control commands based on the received engine information, and controls effectors according to the generated control commands to meet the desired commands of the aircraft.
1 - 30 . (canceled)
31 . A thermal management method, comprising:
determining, using at least one hardware processor, temperatures associated with respective components of an electric propulsion unit (EPU);
computing, using the at least one hardware processor, an estimate of a future thermal state of at least one of the EPU or one of the respective components of the EPU based on a thermal limit associated with the one respective component; and
applying, using the at least one hardware processor, based on the estimated future thermal state, one or more protective actions to the EPU to mitigate overheating.
32 . The method of claim 31 , wherein the computing of an estimate of the future thermal state comprises computing an estimated time remaining for at least one of the EPU or one of the respective components of the EPU based on the thermal limit associated with the one respective component.
33 . The method of claim 32 , wherein the one or more protective actions against overheating are determined based on the estimated time remaining.
34 . The method of claim 32 , wherein the estimated time remaining is computed based on a component of the EPU with a lowest estimated time remaining.
35 . The method of claim 34 , wherein the one or more protective actions against overheating are determined based on the component of the EPU with the lowest estimated time remaining.
36 . The method of claim 34 , wherein the component of the EPU with the lowest estimated time remaining is based on a consolidation of the determined temperatures.
37 . The method of claim 36 , wherein the consolidation of the determined temperatures is determined based on an input validity of one or more communication signals associated with the determined temperatures.
38 . The method of claim 37 , wherein the component of the EPU with the lowest estimated time remaining is determined based on determining one or more temperature faults associated with the consolidation of the determined temperatures.
39 . The method of claim 31 , wherein computing the future thermal state comprises determining whether a temperature of the determined temperatures exceeds an associated threshold of the respective component corresponding to the temperature.
40 . The method of claim 39 , wherein applying the one or more protective actions to the EPU to mitigate overheating is based on the determined temperature exceeding the associated threshold.
41 . The method of claim 31 , further comprising determining, using the at least one hardware processor, a thermally most-limiting component based on the estimated future thermal state.
42 . The method of claim 41 , wherein applying the one or more protective actions to the EPU to mitigate overheating is based on the thermally most-limiting component.
43 . The method of claim 42 , wherein the one or more protective actions include at least one of: reducing a power associated with the thermally most-limiting component, communicating a warning associated with the thermally most-limiting component, or performing an emergency shutdown associated with the thermally most-limiting component.
44 . The method of claim 42 , wherein the thermally most-limiting component is determined based on a consolidation of the temperatures associated with the respective components of the EPU.
45 . The method of claim 31 , further comprising determining, using the at least one hardware processor, an input validity of one or more communication signals associated with the temperatures associated with the respective components of the EPU.
46 . The method of claim 45 , further comprising computing, using the at least one hardware processor, a consolidation of the temperatures associated with the respective components of the EPU based on the input validity.
47 . The method of claim 31 , further comprising determining, using the at least one hardware processor, one or more temperature faults associated with at least one of the respective components of the EPU.
48 . The method of claim 47 , wherein the one or more temperature faults are determined based on an input validity of a consolidation of at least a portion of the temperatures associated with the respective components of the EPU.
49 . The method of claim 48 , wherein the one or more temperature faults include determining, using the at least one hardware processor, the consolidation of at least a portion of the temperatures associated with the respective components of the EPU is outside a temperature range.
50 . The method of claim 48 , wherein the one or more temperature faults include a temperature fault based on the input validity of the consolidation including a temperature of the temperatures associated with the respective components of the EPU that is associated with a thermally most-limiting component.
51 . The method of claim 50 , wherein the one or more protective actions include at least one of: reducing a power associated with the thermally most-limiting component, communicating a warning associated with the thermally most-limiting component, or performing an emergency shutdown associated with the thermally most-limiting component.
52 . The method of claim 31 , wherein at least one of the temperatures associated with the respective components of the EPU is measured by a sensor of the EPU, and wherein at least one of the temperatures associated with the respective components of the EPU is estimated by an estimation algorithm.
53 . The method of claim 52 , wherein a measured temperature and an estimated temperature of the temperatures associated with the respective components of the EPU are associated with the same component.
54 . The method of claim 53 , wherein the measured temperature and the estimated temperature is determined are cross-validated to determine an input validity.
55 . The method of claim 31 , wherein computing the estimate of the future thermal state comprises normalizing temperatures of the temperatures associated with the respective components of the EPU based on at least one of a temperature limit, a time constant, or a time-based metric associated with the respective components of the EPU.
56 . A system for thermal management, comprising:
an electric propulsion unit (EPU) comprising components;
a temperature sensor, configured to transmit a communication signal to a processor;
the processor, wherein the processor is configured to execute instructions stored on a computer-readable medium to perform operations for thermal management of the EPU, the operations comprising:
determining temperatures associated with respective components of the EPU;
computing an estimate of a future thermal state of at least one of the EPU or one of the respective components of the EPU based on a thermal limit associated with the one respective component; and
applying, based on the estimated future thermal state, one or more protective actions to the EPU to mitigate overheating.
57 . The system of claim 56 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform operations comprising:
computing an estimated time remaining for at least one of the EPU or one of the respective components of the EPU based on the thermal limit associated with the one respective component.
58 . The system of claim 56 , further comprising a plurality of temperature sensors, wherein at least two of the temperature sensors are in different locations within the EPU.
59 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more instructions that when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
determining temperatures associated with respective components of an electric propulsion unit (EPU);
computing an estimate of a future thermal state of at least one of the EPU or one of the respective components of the EPU based on a thermal limit associated with the one respective component; and
applying, based on the estimated future thermal state, one or more protective actions to the EPU to mitigate overheating.
60 . The computer-readable medium of claim 59 , further comprising instructions that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
computing an estimated time remaining for at least one of the EPU or one of the respective components of the EPU based on the thermal limit associated with the one respective component.