Retroflight Alpha - A novel eVTOL charging infrastructure platform

Retroflight Alpha - 新型 eVTOL 充电基础设施平台

• 批准号: 76052
• 金额: $ 44.57万
• 依托单位: PETALITE LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=76052
• 关键词: Retroflight; Alpha; novel; eVTOL; charging

The aim of this industrial research project, named Retroflight-Alpha is to develop the physical and digital infrastructure to support future flight objectives. This includes both a highly reliable 600kW charging capability utilising Petalite's 3-Phase SDC patent and Vanti's smart building operating system (Smart Core(tm)), required to serve electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in high density urban environments (HDUE). Ultimately reducing the associated high cost of ground works due to "peak loads" and traditional hardware reliability issues which would make these landing sites financially unviable. Without the right charging infrastructure in place eVTOLs cannot become a feasible form of transportation.Electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft power demands create unique charging challenges: due to frequent short trips and limited time to charge between them. They will endure hundreds of charging cycles in their lifetime located in high density urban environments (HDUE) and require huge amounts of power and high reliability for vertical take-off and landing.Petalite have addressed the integration challenge of new air vehicles by partnering with Vanti, a Systems Integrator with deep experience in integrating proprietary technologies into wider building systems landscapes. At the anticipated power loads of eVTOL charging, wider building automation and systems orchestration are essential to ensure existing electrical supplies can be utilised but are simultaneously monitored to eliminate the risk of them being overloaded and users of buildings being disrupted. As well as commercial buildings other locations for this essential infrastructure will include repurposing the tops of car parks, existing helipads and even EV charging stations.To meet these unique charging demands, Petalite have invented a?patent pending charging?platform?for an innovative new way of charging "3-Phase SDC" Supercharging, with_?a true single stage topology, with 30-50% less components, higher reliability, longer working lifetime (up to 4x MTBF) compared to existing Full-Bridge topologies._ Petalite's Charging as a Service (CAS) business model offers 4 x ROI potential.Petalite's current system meets the battery charging standards for train, tram and buses, further development of the switching algorithm is needed to fully comply and communicate with eVTOLs. This is an evolution of a successful 1-phase SDC Innovate UK (IUK) project (2019) in the rail industry which will invent SDC systems in a laboratory environment and develop them (TRL4-6) to comply with eVTOL CCS standards.The modular design of the 3-Phase SDC will enable rapid growth and unlimited scalability across the eVTOL charging network nationally, while Vanti's open source and open protocol smart building operating system will enable site operators to manage peak energy consumption and minimise impact on existing electrical infrastructure, which is a crucial element of the eVTOL charging requirement.

这个名为 Retroflight-Alpha 的工业研究项目的目的是开发物理和数字基础设施以支持未来的飞行目标。其中包括利用 Petalite 的三相 SDC 专利和 Vanti 的智能建筑操作系统 (Smart Core(tm)) 提供高度可靠的 600kW 充电能力，为高密度城市环境 (HDUE) 中的电动垂直起降 (eVTOL) 飞机提供服务。最终降低由于“峰值负载”和传统硬件可靠性问题而导致的地面工程相关高成本，这些问题将使这些着陆点在经济上不可行。如果没有合适的充电基础设施，电动垂直起降 (eVTOL) 就无法成为一种可行的交通形式。电动垂直起降 (eVTOL) 飞机的电力需求带来了独特的充电挑战：由于频繁的短途旅行和往返之间的充电时间有限。它们在高密度城市环境 (HDUE) 中将在其使用寿命内承受数百次充电周期，并且需要大量电力和高可靠性才能垂直起飞和着陆。Petalite 通过与 Vanti 合作解决了新型飞行器的集成挑战。Vanti 是一家在将专有技术集成到更广泛的建筑系统环境方面拥有丰富经验的系统集成商。在 eVTOL 充电的预期电力负载下，更广泛的楼宇自动化和系统编排对于确保现有电力供应能够得到利用，同时进行监控以消除其过载和建筑物用户受到干扰的风险至关重要。除了商业建筑外，这一重要基础设施的其他位置将包括重新利用停车场的顶部、现有的直升机停机坪甚至电动汽车充电站。为了满足这些独特的充电需求，Petalite 发明了一种“正在申请专利的充电平台”，用于创新的“三相 SDC”超级充电新方式，具有真正的单级拓扑结构，组件数量减少 30-50%，可靠性更高，使用寿命更长 与现有全桥拓扑相比，工作寿命（高达 4 倍的 MTBF）。_ Petalite 的充电即服务 (CAS) 业务模型提供 4 倍的投资回报潜力。Petalite 当前的系统满足火车、有轨电车和公共汽车的电池充电标准，需要进一步开发开关算法，以完全符合 eVTOL 并与其通信。这是铁路行业成功的一阶段 SDC Innovate UK (IUK) 项目 (2019) 的演变，该项目将在实验室环境中发明 SDC 系统并开发它们 (TRL4-6)，以符合 eVTOL CCS 标准。三相 SDC 的模块化设计将实现全国 eVTOL 充电网络的快速增长和无限可扩展性，而 Vanti 的开源和开放协议智能建筑操作系统将 使现场运营商能够管理峰值能源消耗并最大限度地减少对现有电力基础设施的影响，这是电动垂直起降充电要求的关键要素。