Control of supercapacitors for smooth EMA operations in aeronautical applications

In this paper the problem of reducing stress on aeronautical electric energy generators is considered. The usage of an active Energy Storage Device (a controlled supercapacitor) is considered as a quick device able to absorb or yield quickly energy peaks caused by sudden intervention of Electro-Mechanical Actuators. The control strategy considered is a second-order sliding mode approach, able to guarantee finite-time achievement of the control goal. This characteristic is then exploited by a supervisory control to manage different objectives (including managing the State of Charge of the supercapacitor, with different levels of priority) with guaranteed stability. Detailed simulations in different situations confirm the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.