An Electro‐Thermal Real‐Time Simulation Method of PMSG for the Validation and Optimisation of MEA Power System

ABSTRACT

With the increasing power demand of more electric aircraft (MEA) power systems, coordinated energy–thermal operation becomes essential under limited onboard thermal sink capacity. Electro‐thermal real‐time simulation of permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSGs), therefore, plays a critical role in fast, high‐fidelity system validation and optimisation. This paper presents an electro‐thermal real‐time simulation framework for PMSGs, featuring an integrated modelling of electrical and thermal dynamics and their interaction with the thermal management system. An FPGA‐based real‐time solver with a highly parallel architecture is developed to enable ultra‐fast computation. A simulation time step of 200 ns is achieved, and the accuracy is validated against an offline commercial model. Furthermore, electro‐thermal real‐time co‐simulation of the PMSG and the thermal management system is implemented, enabling virtual testing of system‐level energy‐thermal behaviours. The proposed framework facilitates coordinated control strategy development and system‐level performance evaluation, providing an effective platform for real‐time design verification and optimisation of MEA power systems.