Aiming at the global energy optimization of aircraft, the More Electric Aircraft (MEA) concept becomes more interesting for the aeronautical industry. The MEA concept is based on utilizing electric power to drive aircraft subsystems that historically have been driven by a combination of hydraulic, electric, pneumatic and mechanical power transfer systems.
The development of the future MEA systems is a challenging task: the system integration is becoming a central topic. In all phases of the system development process, the respective subsystems within the MEA will be treated in a highly integrated manner to achieve optimum efficiency and performance at aircraft and systems level. Concerning the electric network in the future MEA, advanced design and analysis methods based on mathematical models are required to face the potential issues accompanying the MEA. For this purpose, the use of advanced modelling and simulation technologies is a key success factor. This paper gives a comprehensive overview how to effectively deal with some issues raised when designing the electric network of the MEA by using model based approaches. The topics addressed here include network stability, failure analysis and power quality studies.