Hierarchical Optimization Design for the Power System of Electric Propulsion Aircraft with High-Power Pulsed Loads

This article presents a hierarchical optimization framework for the power system design of electric propulsion aircraft (EPA) with high-power pulsed loads (HPPLs). Traditional generator-based systems fall short in meeting the transient and high-demand nature of HPPL, while energy storage devices such as supercapacitors and batteries offer an effective solution. However, their integration increases design complexity. To address this, a novel two-level optimization framework is proposed to ensure a lightweight and reliable system design. At the device level, the framework optimizes energy systems composed of generators, batteries, and supercapacitors, incorporating the proposed energy management strategy and using discrete Fourier transform (DFT) analysis of HPPL to build a dataset of optimal configurations under various load conditions. At the system level, this dataset supports the linearization of the weight objective, while the reliability objective and constraints are also modeled and linearized, resulting in a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model. This enables efficient solutions using commercial solvers. The case study and sensitivity analyses demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed design framework for EPA power systems with HPPL.