Aircraft emergency power system incorporating a fuel cell

摘要

An aircraft 100 is equipped with one or more engines 110 to provide thrust and to deliver power to a power system 120 by means of a generator 115. An auxiliary power unit (APU) 130 may also provide electrical power to the power system together with an emergency power system 140. In the event of a failure of an engine 110 or the APU to deliver sufficient power then the emergency power system becomes operational to power essential systems. The emergency power system 140 comprises an emergency power generator 150 that is driven by a ram air turbine (RAT) 155 and also includes a fuel cell 200. When emergency power is required an energy management controller 270 controls the electrical output from the fuel cell and emergency generator to feed a DC bus 180 dependent on load requirements.