Power Distribution and Thermal Management Modeling for Electrified Aircraft

Abstract

Despite the substantially lower energy per unit mass of batteries compared to hydrocarbon fuels, electrification of the aircraft propulsion system could lead to increases in energy efficiency for certain types of missions. This work builds on the electric powertrain component models (battery, converter, motor) from previous work and presents models for the propulsor, power distribution system, thermal management system(TMS), and wiring in order to complete an all-electric propulsion system framework. This framework is used to simulate a propulsion system with power loads representative of a commuter aircraft mission that transports 19 passengers over 100nmi. Results show that the battery makes up over 60% of the total propulsion system mass, indicating that improvements in battery technology are essential to lower propulsion system mass. Despite making up a smaller fraction of the propulsion system mass, the other components impact the overall system via their efficiency since that sizes the battery and the TMS. Distributed propulsion is found to lower the propulsion system mass, with diminishing returns beyond 10 propulsors due to the increased heat rejection and hence TMS mass.