Electric Drives for Propulsion System of Transport Aircraft

Abstract

Following the hybridization or complete electrification strategy of the electric drive pursued on terrestrial vehicles, the aviation industry is considering with great attention the application of electrical technology and power electronics for transport aircraft. The growing interest toward electric application in transport aircraft is driven by the ambitious targets for aviation declared by Europe and by the United States of America and is motivated by the growing evidence that evolutionary improvement of the technologies might not be sufficient to fulfill these targets. As a result, the introduction of disruptive technologies turns out to be essential. With respect to the progress and perspective in electrical technology, electric drive applications to transport aircraft reveals itself to be a promising field in view of meeting the future goals.The focus of this chapter is the assessment of the electrification of the propulsion system of transport aircraft. While aiming for the ultimate goal of universally electric aircraft, hybrid electric approach will be first necessary to match the requirement of aircraft propulsion system and the development pace of the electrical components technology. The combinatorial variety of hybrid electric and universally electric propulsion system topology considered for transport aircraft application as well as key enabling technologies are first reviewed. A compendium of hybrid electric and universally electric advanced aircraft concepts is then proposed to obtain a notion of the cloud of aircraft configurations and electric drive options investigated up to this point in time. Finally, the integrated prospects of hybrid electric aircraft are investigated to establish the feasibility of hybrid electric aircraft for future market segments.