Hybrid Electric Aircraft Propulsion Case Study for Skydiving Mission

Abstract

This paper describes a case study for applying innovative architectures related to electrified propulsion for aircraft. Electric and hybrid electric propulsion for aircraft has gained widespread and significant attention over the past decade. The driver for industry interest has principally been the need to reduce emissions of combustion engine exhaust products and noise, but increasingly studies revealed potential for overall improvement in energy efficiency and mission flexibility of new aircraft types. In this work, a conceptual new type for a skydiver lift mission aircraft is examined. The opportunities which electric hybridisation offers for this role is analysed in comparison with conventional legacy type propulsion systems. For a conventional commercial skydiving mission, an all-electric propulsion system is shown as viable, and a hybrid-electric system is shown to reduce aircraft fuel costs and CO 2 emissions whilst maintaining conventional aero-engine operational benefits. The new paradigm for aircraft development which hybrid electric propulsion enables has highlighted significant issues with aircraft certification practices as they exist today. The advancement of aircraft design and production to harness the value of new propulsion systems may require adaption and development of certification standards to cater for these new technologies.

Electrical Power Generation in Aircraft: Review, Challenges, and Opportunities

“…The two aforementioned factors, together with the airlines' need for reducing aircraft operating cost, are encouraging aerospace industries in developing more energy efficient means of air transportation [85][86][87][88][89]. The hybrid gas/electric propulsion and/or the AEA concept aim at lowering or completely removing the traditional air-breathing engines, which depend on the Jet-A fuel, as a main energy source [87,90]. In the upcoming sub-sections, the main ideas that go beyond the conventional MEA initiative are introduced and examined.…”

“…The success of these concepts, besides from relying on high performance electrical machines and PECs, will be strongly dependent on the technological development of energy storage systems. Modern electrochemical batteries have proven to be suitable for powering unmanned aerial vehicle and hybrid/electric light aircraft, for short endurance missions [90,109,113,114]. Nonetheless, for energising a fully-electric, short-haul civil aircraft, the energy density of the currently available battery technologies needs to improve by at least eight or ten-fold.…”

The Advanced Control Approach based on SMC Design for the High-Fidelity Haptic Power Lever of a Small Hybrid Electric Aircraft

“…then by combining Equations (14) and (16) we can derive the expression that determines the interaction force:…”

“…A hybrid electric powertrain system [6][7][8][9], which combines the propulsion system with an internal combustion engine (ICE) for hybrid electric vehicles, can extend the vehicle's autonomy [10]. A hybrid propulsion concept is being developed for aircraft as well, since it can extend their flying range [11][12][13][14][15][16].…”

Optimization and Analysis of an Elite Electric Propulsion System

“…In the coming years, the requirement for transportation will create a surge in the aviation sector (Anon, 2007). Nowadays the aviation sector is a main fuel consumer; electric propulsion can reduce noise pollution and greenhouse effect that is created from current aircraft engines (Glassock et al 2017). Moreover, general aviation alone consumed around 190 million gallons of aircraft fuel in 2015.…”