In the face of the climate and technological challenges associated with sustainable air transport, power electronics plays a key role in the development of electric and hybrid aircraft. Co-funded by the European Union and the Clean Aviation initiative, the POWER4AIR project brings together industrial and academic stakeholders to address key technological challenges in high-voltage direct current (HVDC) power conversion.
Led by Spanish SME SKYLIFE Engineering (project coordinator), the POWER4AIR project brings together leading research organisations and universities (Fraunhofer, SINTEF, UC3M, USE and CEIT), as well as major industrial partners such as ATR and STMicroelectronics.
As part of this European initiative, IRT Saint Exupéry plays a key role, notably as leader of Work Package 2 (WP2), which focuses on detecting electrical hazards (arcs and partial discharges) within the electromechanical conversion chain.
Reliability and robustness of power modules (WP1)
To meet the stringent requirements of commercial aviation, wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductor components, such as silicon carbide (SiC), must be reliable.
Advanced ageing tests: IRT Saint Exupéry conducts accelerated ageing test campaigns on SiC power modules.
Lifetime modelling: IRT develops predictive degradation models to address the lack of historical data specific to the aerospace sector. These models help optimise converter sizing, with the aim of achieving an operational lifetime of 120,000 hours.
Safety-critical applications: Detection of electrical arcs and partial discharges (WP2)
Increasing voltage levels in high-voltage direct current (HVDC) onboard networks reduces cable cross-sections and onboard weight, but also increases the risk of electrical arcing within the Electrical Wiring Interconnection System (EWIS).
WP2 leadership: IRT coordinates the work dedicated to arc fault detection (AFD) and partial discharge (PD) detection. The objective is to achieve a detection efficiency of over 85%, with a false-positive rate below 1%, enabling incipient faults to be identified almost instantaneously and helping prevent cascading failures.
High-density active filtering and reduced hardware footprint (WP3)
Power converters inherently generate electromagnetic interference (EMI) due to the rapid switching of semiconductor devices. Traditionally, bulky and heavy passive filters are required to mitigate these disturbances.
Differential-mode (DM) active filter design: The IRT Saint Exupéry team designs, manufactures, optimises and tests a differential-mode (DM) active filter. This technological approach directly contributes to the project’s objectives: reducing filter size and weight by 50% compared with traditional passive solutions, while complying with stringent aerospace standards (DO-160).
System-level integration and demonstration (WP4)
IRT actively contributes to the integration of active filters and reliability models into the final 200 kW converter, as well as to ground testing to validate thermal performance and the overall robustness of the system against the aerospace performance targets set for 2030.
Through its active involvement, IRT Saint Exupéry reaffirms its key role in supporting the aerospace industry in its transition towards safer, lighter and lower-carbon aviation.
POWER4AIR is funded by the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, Grant Agreement No. 101251267.