Patent ID: 8820677

Claim:
A method, comprising: monitoring an operating condition of an engine of an aircraft; starting an emergency power generator when the operating condition indicates a failure of the engine to provide sufficient power for critical loads; and powering only the critical loads in the aircraft using power from a fuel cell and the emergency power generator, wherein the critical loads are loads that are critical to flight safety and loads that are critical to passenger health; wherein powering only the critical loads comprises: converting a first AC power from the emergency power generator to a first DC power at a predefined voltage with a first rectifier; converting a second DC power from the fuel cell to a third DC power at the predefined voltage with a first DC-DC converter; transferring the first DC power from the emergency power generator and the third DC power from the fuel cell through a DC bus; transferring a portion of the DC power from the DC bus to a second DC-DC converter; delivering a fourth DC power from the second DC-DC converter to a critical DC load; transferring a portion of the DC power from the DC bus to a DC-AC inverter; and delivering a second AC power from the DC-AC inverter to a critical AC load.