Investigating the potential of parallel hybrid-electric retrofit of narrow-body airliner for emission reduction

Abstract

Due to the high power and energy demands of large aircraft and low energy density of batteries, parallel hybrid-electric propulsion (HEP) is an in-between solution to reduce carbon emissions instead of full-electric propulsion. Considering the long in-service time, parallel HEP retrofit of existing large commercial or transport aircraft is favorable for technical risks and economic values. To enhance the reliability of the analysis, a comprehensive parallel HEP retrofit study of a narrow-body airliner is carried out in this paper. At first, efficient and accurate aerodynamic and engine deck surrogate models are built to include multidisciplinary impacts. To capture the off-design performance, a detailed flight mission is modeled based on exact flight dynamic equations, which is solved in a time-stepping manner. Then, the hybridization levels and battery usage strategy are thoroughly investigated. Besides, fuel burn, carbon emissions, and total energy consumption performance is studied for fixed take-off weight and selected flight range scenarios. The results show that the total energy in flight can be reduced by 7.9% and fuel combustion and carbon emissions can be reduced by 13.2% for the 2000 km flight distance case compared to the reference case. The greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions are 3059.8 kg CO2, 1220.0 kg H2O, 0.1937 kg SO4, and 0.0387 kg soot. As our methods have incorporated reliable multidisciplinary data and off-design features, the results and conclusions on the parallel HEP retrofit of large aircraft for carbon emission reductions and sustainable aviation goals are more relevant.