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The movement to more-electric architectures during the past decade in military and commercial airborne systems continues to increase the complexity of designing and specifying the electric power system. In particular, the electrical power system (EPS) faces challenges in meeting the highly dynamic power demands of advanced power electronics based loads. This paper explores one approach to addressing these demands by proposing an electrical equivalent of the widely utilized hydraulic accumulator which has successfully been employed in hydraulic power system on aircraft for more than 50 years.

Integration of Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) into future aircraft presents significant challenges. Principally, the need for generating and managing copious amounts of power into the Megawatt class is foreseen. Probably, the most critical and challenging area for supporting a DEW system on an aircraft is the Megawatt Class Electric Power System (MCEPS) and its associated Thermal Management Systems (TMS). MCEPS converts the aircraft fuel’s chemical energy into useable power for the load or system and the TMS disposes of the waste energy, all within the extremely challenging constraints (volume, weight, EMI, etc.) For the purposes of our studies, the MCEPS consists of the following subsystems: Engine, Power Generation, Power Conditioning, Distribution, Control, and Protection. The TMS manages Component Heat Extraction, Thermal Energy Storage, and Waste Heat disposal.