Design considerations on energy storage system for electric aircraft propulsion

Abstract

The growth of electric aircraft propulsion systems requires an accurate design of the battery energy storage system (BESS) and of the electric motor involved in the propulsion unit. The motor performance can be strictly linked to the characteristic of the BESS and to the variation of its parameters, as the output voltage. In this paper some design considerations are discussed with reference to the on-board BESS and to the choice of parameters of permanent magnet synchronous motors used in full electric aircraft propulsion. In particular, the problem is approached considering a speed and power profile of a realistic mission of a commercial small power twin engine four-seat aircraft. Some numerical investigations are carried out with the aim to compare performance achievable by the electric propulsion system in correspondence of different sizes and configurations of the batteries.