A synthetic optimization of more-electric aircraft based on exergy analysis

In order to improve energy efficiency of more-electric aircraft, not only the fuel efficiency, but also the electric efficiency should be developed, since more electric consumers are implanted into the vehicle. Exergy is a powerful method to analyze various physics-based subsystems into one physical scale. This paper uses Exergy Analysis (EA) method to model a more electric aircraft with propulsion, ECU, anti-ice, electricity generating and distributing, electric motors, and airframe. In a classic cruising mission profile, the energy consumption situations of each subsystem and between subsystems are identified respectively. Then an exergy-based synthetic optimization is performed, utilizing Genetic Algorithms (GA) to get global optimal design variables resulting in high energy efficiency of the entire system. The method mentioned in this paper could also be used in other kinds of vehicles.