Hierarchical Weight Optimization Design of Aircraft Power Electronics Systems Using Metaheuristic Optimization Methods

In the background of the development of More Electric Aircraft (MEA) framework, weight-optimized design of an aircraft's electric power system is essential. Power electronics systems have played an important role in the on board power distribution system. However, the difficulties in its design variable identification and the design interaction decoupling process have been primary obstacles to design the electric power system in an optimized and efficient manner. In this paper, a hierarchical weight optimization design procedure has been applied to solve this problem. To accelerate the design iterations, metaheuristic optimization methods, such as genetic algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), and simulated annealing (SA) are considered due to the nonlinear and discrete nature of power electronics converters. Finally, a design example of a 2 kW voltage source inverter (VSI) is shown to illustrate the hierarchical optimization design process using metaheuristic optimization methods.