Avionics

More electric and all-electric aircraft projects along with variable frequency generation systems are driving new developments and new test needs in the fields of avionics.

CINERGIA offers a unique Regenerative AC Electronic Load (EL+ vHF) designed to work in a frequency range of 360 to 900Hz used mainly in aircraft generator’s testing platforms. The use of such equipment has two main advantages. First, it allows a significant energy and power saving as > 90% of the energy is fed back into the grid. Being, many times, the power saving the most important point as the power requirements of the laboratory will be reduced to the losses of the motor-generator bench plus the losses of the electronic load. Second, it allows a better control and simplifies hugely the tests. Common test procedures require loading the generator with a fixed power factor (cos fi) while the speed of the generator changes (and thus the frequency). This requires adapting the inductance value continuously in order to keep the cos fi constant throughout the frequency sweep. Using real inductors demands the use of many inductors, that will be connected/disconnected to modify the inductance, or the use of inductors with variable gap. With CINERGIA High Frequency Electronic loads it is only necessary to set the desired current and delay (cos fi) and the dynamic PLL will automatically synchronise the current with the voltage keeping the power factor fixed.

Our solution for the aeronautic field is completed with the DC Bidirectional Converter (B2C+) and the AC Electronic Load (EL+ vAC). The B2C+ will be used to emulate and test devices in the DC aircraft grid. This model can create a +270/0/-270V network or can emulate a DC load profile and even emulate the back up battery. It also includes a specific software that will allow testing and characterisation of batteries. The EL+ vAC will emulate the 50/60Hz loads on the plane.

In those applications that do not require the simultaneous use of the mentioned models, cost-effective combined devices have been developed: the EL+ vHF/AC and the EL+ vHF/DC and the EL+ vAC/DC.