Electric Aircraft Health Management Algorithms and Infrastructure

The proposed Phase I effort will focus on the development and implementation of component and system-wide failure and degradation detection techniques for electrifiedcal aircraft propulsion (EAP) systems built upon an infrastructure of advanced control devices. Reliable accurate data collection from across the system is necessary to enable system-wide health management and prognostics for predictive maintenance. PCKA’s Intelligent, expandable Point-of-Load Electrical System (IPoLES) initiative will provide the infrastructure required for this development. Under the IPoLES effort, PCKA has developed and demonstrated the use of 270V/120A smart solid statesolid-state rectifiers with high-speed sensing and communication to enable local and coordinated control and protections with improved fault mitigation performance (compared to traditional approaches). The main objectives of the proposed Phase I effort are to 1) determine requirements for electrical noise resilience and sensing, processing, and communication requirements for health management algorithms, 2) develop and implement HMAS algorithms on the IPoLES devices, and finally 3) to demonstrate the HMAS algorithms on IPoLES hardware. PCKA has performed prior work on failure identification in converters and generators under NASA SBIR and STTR programs. The approaches utilize voltage- and power- spectrum metrics to distinguish fault types within the devices, and the selected metrics are well-suited to the sensing and processing capabilities of IPoLES devices. These techniques will likely form the basis for Phase I demonstration, while more expansive analyses of component and system-wide algorithms and their sensing and processing requirements are completed.

IPoLES technology, and HMAS algorithms layered on top of it, could enhance the performance of any of NASA’s Electrified Aircraft Propulsion (EAP) platforms. The capabilities provided by IPoLES are flexible and can be tailored to the needs of the platform, including scaling of protections to higher voltages and currents, supporting high-power electrified propulsion. The criticality of the electrical system in EAP platforms increases the importance of the evaluation and management of its health. The primary non-NASA application for the proposed Phase I technology is commercial aircraft. This will especially become more feasible when the key features of the advanced capabilities of IPoLES systems become more common and price effective. Another likely non-NASA application for the this technology is Department of Defense aircraft platforms. Ground and shipboard systems could also benefit, but lightweight sensing, communication, and in-operation diagnostics and prognostics are more critical in aircraft.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.