Commercial Aircraft Electrification—Current State and Future Scope

Abstract

Electric and hybrid-electric aircraft propulsion are rapidly revolutionising mobility technologies. Air travel has become a major focus point with respect to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The electrification of aircraft components can bring several benefits such as reduced mass, environmental impact, fuel consumption, increased reliability and quicker failure resolution. Propulsion, actuation and power generation are the three key areas of focus in more electric aircraft technologies, due to the increasing demand for power-dense, efficient and fault-tolerant flight components. The necessity of having environmentally friendly aircraft systems has promoted the aerospace industry to use electrically powered drive systems, rather than the conventional mechanical, pneumatic or hydraulic systems. In this context, this paper reviews the current state of art and future advances in more electric technologies, in conjunction with a number of industrially relevant discussions. In this study, a permanent magnet motor was identified as the most efficient machine for aircraft subsystems. It is found to be 78% and 60% more power dense than switch-reluctant and induction machines. Several development methods to close the gap between existing and future design were also analysed, including the embedded cooling system, high-thermal-conductivity insulation materials, thin-gauge and high-strength electrical steel and integrated motor drive topology.

Modeling the Meshing Procedure of the External Gear Fuel Pump Using a CFD Tool

“…As a result, the integral efficiency of the system is reduced. For more effective matching, it is necessary to remove the dependence of the pump speed on the gas turbine engine (GTE) rotor, which is made possible by using an independent (electric) drive instead of the drive box [1]. In modern aircraft engine technology, there is a tendency to replace the mechanical drive of the external gear fuel pump with an electric one.…”

Design Method for Variable Frequency Brushless Synchronous Generators

“…Since the beginning of the 21st century, more electric aircraft (MEA) technology has been widely applied, aiming to replace part of the aircraft's secondary energy system with the electrical system, most of the onboard equipment are powered by electrical energy. MEA technology can effectively improve aircraft reliability and maintainability, reduce operating costs and the weight of the aircraft [1][2][3].…”

The Application of Slotless Skewed Windings to a Rim Driven Fan for Aircraft Electrical Propulsion (AEP)

“…In fact, the entire power chain from energy storage and inverters to electromechanical actuators is required to be safe, efficient, and lightweight. Several architectures of electrically powered aircraft propulsion systems have already been devised with hybrid and full electric architectures [4], [5]. Subsequently, the studies of components and devices belonging to the propulsion system of hybrid and full electric aircraft are increasingly worthy of consideration since their use can be extended to the next generation of electric aircraft.…”

“…Conventional slotted motors are widely used for a large variety of industrial, domestic, and transportation applications; prototypes of electric aircraft and drones also mainly use this motor topology [4], [6]. Slotless motors have rarely been considered for aircraft electrical propulsion (AEP) despite their possible benefits in terms of weight, harmonic reduction, vibration reduction and operational performance [4], [7]- [9]. To date, slotless windings have been mainly used with small high-speed motors.…”

“…However, aerospace propulsion applications require large motors with high power density and efficiency. As a promising solution, thin and large motors for new multistage contra-rotating rim driven fan (RDF) configurations are considered in [4], [10].…”