The electric power supply system is one of the most important research areas within sustainable and energy-efficient aviation for more-and especially all electric aircraft. This paper discusses the history in electrification, current trends with a broad overview of research activities, state of the art of electrification and an initial proposal for a short-range aircraft. It gives an overview of the mission profile, electrical sources, approaches for the electrical distribution system and the required electrical loads. Current research aspects and questions are discussed, including voltage levels, semiconductor technology, topologies and reliability. Because of the importance for safety possible circuit breakers for the proposed concept are also presented and compared, leading to a initial proposal. Additionally, a very broad review of literature and a state of the art discussion of the wiring harness is given, showing that this topic comes with a high number of aspects and requirements. Finally, the conclusion sums up the most important results and gives an outlook on important future research topics. INDEX TERMS Aviation, aerospace electronics, MEA, AEA, electric power supply systems, dc-dc power converters, power semiconductor devices, wide bandgap semiconductors, high voltage direct current (HVDC), circuit breaker, hybrid circuit breaker.
To participate in the transition towards a sustainable use of energy, the aircraft sector needs to be transformed with respect to the energy carrier and propulsion methods. For smaller aircraft, a battery-electric approach is promising. While this will require extensive research and design as well as the application of advanced components which are partly not available to this date, general design rules and decisive parameters and components can already by deduced. This publication presents the exemplary design of the full propulsion system for a small commuter aircraft. This serves as a case study to highlight the influence of components and parameters on the overall efficiency and weight of the system. By that, future research can be directed towards the areas of high impact on the realization of all electric aircraft.INDEX TERMS Aviation, aerospace electronics, AEA, aircraft propulsion, DC/DC converters, electric power supply systems, high voltage direct current, power semiconductor devices, reliability, safety, wide bandgap semiconductors, wiring harness Nomenclature This article has been accepted for publication in IEEE Access.
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