Abstract
Hybrid-electric technology can be expected to improve the performance of fixed wing vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft. In this paper, we demonstrated a method of retrofitting a single-energy propulsion system prototype with a hybrid-electric propulsion system. Since the hybrid-electric system has several working modes, the optimal design results have strong coupling with mission performance. Therefore, we propose an analysis method of the mission profile to determine the design point. Finally, the payload-range sensitivity is studied. The results show that the hybrid-electric propulsion system can greatly increase the mission profile of aircraft. The analysis method of the mission profile also provides perspective for the hybrid-electric propulsion system design.
Highlights
In the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) market, transport companies, aircraft manufacturers, and technology companies are working with government organizations to operate on demand and scheduled operations using quiet, efficient manned and unmanned vehicles
In the study of fixed wing aircraft by Lammen and Vankan [25], the power allocation plan of each flight phase can be described as that the takeoff and climb phases are driven by hybrid power, and the other phases are only driven by the internal combustion engine (ICE)
This paper demonstrates the design method of the hybridelectric propulsion system
Summary
In the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) market, transport companies, aircraft manufacturers, and technology companies are working with government organizations to operate on demand and scheduled operations using quiet, efficient manned and unmanned vehicles. Electric propulsion components bring more flexibility in the design of aircraft and the propulsion system, because once the mechanical connection is converted to electrical connection, it is easy to drive electronic speed control (EMS) without affecting ICE performance [9] These advantages make the series hybrid system to be first applied to VTOL light aircraft and small or medium UAVs to improve emissions, endurance, payload capacity, and noise [10,11,12,13,14], because there is a significant mismatch of power demand between. Iteration method can estimate the wing area and the initial size of aircraft with traditional propulsion configuration, and many studies have improved the iteration method to make it applicable for hybrid-electric aircraft [10, 15,16,17,18,19] This iteration method is to obtain the optimal design (minimum weight or fuel consumption, etc.) satisfying the performance through continuous iterative calculation. By changing the parameters of the aircraft (MTOM, AR, etc.) the design of different hybrid-electric fixed wing VTOL aircrafts can still be involved
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