Abstract:
The aerospace industry is currently looking at options for fulfilling the
technological development targets set for the next aircraft generations.
Conventional engines and aircraft architectures are now at a maturity level
which makes the realisation of these targets extremely problematic. Radical
solutions seem to be necessary and Electric Distributed Propulsion is the most
promising concept for future aviation. Several studies showed that the viability
of this novel concept depends on the implementation of a superconducting
power network.
The particularities of a superconducting power network are described in this
study where novel components and new design conditions of these networks
are highlighted. Simulink models to estimate the weight of fully superconducting
machines have been developed in this research work producing a relatively
conservative prediction model compared to the NASA figures which are the only
reference available in the literature. A conceptual aircraft design architecture
implementing a superconducting secondary electrical power system is also
proposed. Depending on the size of the aircraft, and hence the electric load
demand, the proposed superconducting architecture proved to be up to three
times lighter than the current more electric configurations. The selection of such
a configuration will also align with the general tendency towards a
superconducting network for the proposed electric distributed propulsion
concept. In addition, the hybrid nature of these configurations has also been
explored and the potential enhanced role of energy storage mechanisms has
been further investigated leading to almost weight neutral but far more flexible
aircraft solutions. For the forecast timeframe battery technology seems the only
viable choice in terms of energy storage options. The anticipated weight of the
Lithium sulphur technology is the most promising for the proposed architectures
and for the timeframe under investigation. The whole study is based on
products and technologies which are expected to be available on the 2035
timeframe. However, future radical changes in energy storage technologies may be possible but the approach used in this study can be readily adapted to meet
such changes.
