Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0009-0000-4721-1719
Date Available
7-1-2025
Year of Publication
2025
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College
Engineering
Department/School/Program
Electrical Engineering
Advisor
Dr. JiangBiao He
Co-Director of Graduate Studies
Dr. Yuan Liao
Abstract
As global focus shifts to the electrification of the aviation sector, the need for high efficiency, lightweight, and reliable electric aircraft propulsion power converter systems has become apparent. These goals can be somewhat conflicting with each other, and a single multi-domain-optimized solution is not guaranteed. The search for a design which presents satisfactory merits becomes a drudge through various trade-off studies which can expend vast quantities of manpower and time. As a remedy to this, design automation allows the process to be computer-assisted. This dissertation presents the core fundamentals for a general multi-objective design optimization framework intended for the design of power converter systems for electric aircraft propulsion. It incorporates a variety of circuit topologies and myriad off-the-shelf power components which are used to quickly and accurately develop and evaluate numerous converter candidates. The proposed method is able to communicate with online parts retailers which allows component databases to be updated regularly to ensure accurate pricing and availability data. Electro-thermal simulation is conducted to measure converter performance (efficiency, power density, reliability, and cost) and ensure agreement with various design constraints. The vast feasible design space and inconsistency between objectives are well suited to the use of a genetic algorithm approach which allows an efficient population-based search for converters with optimal trade-offs. Finally, the efficacy of the proposed multi-objective design optimization framework is validated by two well-designed power converter case studies. The framework was also implemented in a general fashion which allows it to be employed in the optimization of power converters spanning various topologies and functions
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2024.539
Funding Information
This work was supported by the Department of Education's Graduate Assistance for Areas of National Need Fellowship from 2020-2024.
Recommended Citation
Luckett, Ben, "Multi-Objective Design Optimization of Power Converters for Electric Aircraft Propulsion" (2025). Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering. 210.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/ece_etds/210
