A light unit executes up to three different functions (cabin area illumination, individual/dedicated/decorative illumination and emergency illumination) and an emergency illuminated sign unit, each one with an internal controller and a rechargeable capacitor. An example non-limiting embodiment also provides a cabin light system and an emergency lighting system, where each illumination unit (light source or illuminated sign) is as described above.

A propulsion system includes an electrical assembly and a controller. The electrical assembly includes at least one contactor and a sensor assembly. The at least one contactor is switchable by a switching operation between an open condition and a closed condition. The controller is connected in signal communication with the sensor assembly. The controller is configured to determine, using the sensor assembly, an electrical energy of the at least one contactor for each switching operation of the at least one contactor to determine a cumulative electrical energy for the at least one contactor and identify a presence or an absence of an end-of-life condition for the at least one contactor by comparing the cumulative electrical energy to an end-of-life energy threshold. The presence of the end-of-life condition is identified where the cumulative electric energy exceeds the end-of-life energy threshold.

Power distribution systems, battery packs, and batteries employ battery modules that are connected in series to generate a high-voltage output and in parallel to generate a low-voltage output. A battery includes battery modules and a direct current to direct current converter. The battery modules are electrically connected in series to generate a first battery high-voltage output. The battery modules are electrically connected in parallel to generate a battery modules low-voltage output. The direct current to direct current converter generates a battery low-voltage output from the battery modules low-voltage output.

This system comprises one of the battery modules coupled to at least one control device and formed of battery cells arranged in parallel coherent strings of battery cells, the battery modules being distributed in two independent networks including a high-voltage network and a low-voltage network coupled in series, the low-voltage network including a battery module including a first sub-network and a second sub-network electrically separated from the first sub-network by a physical separation element arranged on the battery module of said low-voltage network, characterised in that each battery module of the high-voltage network includes a number of parallel coherent strings of battery cells equal to the number of parallel coherent strings of battery cells of each battery module of the first sub-network.

A control system for charging an aircraft, comprising: a battery pack, an input device configured to enable a user to select between different charging modes, two main contactors connecting the battery pack to an electric propulsion unit (EPU) load and an auxiliary load, a EPU load contactor connecting the battery pack to the EPU load and a controller configured to receive the selected charge mode and control the contactors, keep the two main contactors open upon receiving a user selection to charge in a first mode, close the two main contactors and keep an EPU load contactor open upon receiving a user selection to charge in a second mode, and close the two main contactors and the EPU load contactor upon receiving a user selection to charge in a third mode.

A method for controlling an electrical system of a hybrid aircraft, the electrical system includes at least two busbars configured to transfer electrical energy between a plurality of subsystems of said aircraft and comprising at least one centralised regulation control device, the method includes the regulation of a voltage level performed by the controller from one or more variable regulation points determined from among a plurality of predefined regulation points and each located in either one of the busbars, as a function of the nature of the transfers of electrical power that are to be performed.

An emergency backup power source for an electrically controlled and motorized window shade unit includes an input power switch, and charge and discharge control circuit, and a supercapacitor bank. During normal operation a nominal voltage level from a main power source of the aircraft is provided directly to the window shade unit through the input power switch, and the supercapacitor bank is charged. The input voltage is monitored by the emergency backup power source, which controls the input power switch. When the input voltage drops below a threshold level, the input power switch is opened and the charge and discharge circuit operates to provide an emergency output voltage to the window shade unit from the supercapacitor bank so that the window shade can be fully opened or closed, as is required.

A power supply system includes: a power supply circuit for supplying, to a load device, DC power output from a power source device; and a detection circuit capable of selectively performing ground fault detection for connecting the power supply circuit to a ground via a capacitor to detect whether or not the power supply circuit is short-circuited to the ground based on the voltage of the capacitor, and short circuit detection for connecting, via the capacitor, a positive wire provided in the power supply circuit to a negative wire provided in the power supply circuit to detect whether or not the positive wire and the negative wire are short-circuited based on the voltage of the capacitor.

A power distribution system for an aircraft, and method of operating includes, including determining, by a supplemental electrical power system, an operating mode of the aircraft, selecting, by the supplemental electrical power system, at least one supplementary power source of a set of at least two supplementary power sources, and based on the operating mode of the aircraft at least one of receiving, by the selected at least one supplementary power source, a first current from the primary power bus, or selectively providing a second current to the primary power bus from the selected at least one supplementary power source.

An energy management system and method of operating the energy management, which include estimating an energy demand for flight plans for a fleet of aircraft. The flight plans are received from a flight plan database. The system is configured to determine whether a set of dischargeable energy modules are locatable at a respective location of a subset of the fleet of aircraft based at least in part on a replaceable power source inventory database or the subset of the plurality of flight plans. The system is configured to generate a power source inventory distribution plan allocating a subset of dischargeable energy modules for the subset of the plurality of flight plans for the fleet of aircraft based at least in part on the determination that the set of dischargeable energy modules are locatable at the respective location of the subset of the fleet of aircraft.