An 8-level flying capacitor multilevel converter for aircraft pulse deicing

Commercial and small personal aircraft use a variety of methods to remove and/or prevent ice buildup on plane wings. Recent research into pulsed deicing techniques on small passenger aircraft has gained traction, which calls for controlled power systems that can provide the necessary energy to remove accumulated ice. This work looks at the design of a 3 kW, 8-level flying capacitor multilevel (FCML) buck converter, with over 99% efficiency, that can be used as a controlled energy buffer between the aircraft battery and the deicing mechanism. The prototype developed in this work lends itself to an extremely lightweight design (15 kW/kg), with no heat-sink due to good thermal performance. Additional work is done to prove the reliability of the prototype through environmental testing and future plans to integrate the converter into a comprehensive deicing system will be discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Electrical & Computer Engr

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Stokowski, Nicole Mei Lan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Stillwell, Andrew R

• Flying Capacitor Multilevel Converter
• Pulse Deicing
• Gan

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Nicole Stokowski

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/127170

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F127170