Design of an Electric Propulsion System for SCEPTOR’s Outboard Nacelle

DuBois, Arthur B.; Geest, M. van der; Bevirt, JoeBen; Christie, Robert; Borer, Nicholas K.; Clarke, Sean

doi:10.2514/6.2016-3925

Cited by 42 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The custom Joby cruise motors and controllers are air-cooled, and a radial inlet ensures adequate cooling flow to the motor stator and magnets. Nacelle cooling design is discussed in a companion paper by Dubois et al [39]. Additional cooling flow is directed to the dual motor controllers located behind the motor.…”

Section: B Sceptor 40mentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Performance of the NASA SCEPTOR Distributed Electric Propulsion Flight Demonstrator

Borer

Patterson

Viken

et al. 2016

16th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference

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191

109

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Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP) technology uses multiple propulsors driven by electric motors distributed about the airframe to yield beneficial aerodynamic-propulsioninteraction. The NASA SCEPTOR flight demonstration project will retrofit an existing internal combustion engine-powered light aircraft with two types of DEP: small "high-lift" propellers distributed along the leading edge of the wing which accelerate the flow over the wing at low speeds, and larger cruise propellers located at each wingtip for primary propulsive power. The updated high-lift system enables a 2.5x reduction in wing area as compared to the original aircraft, reducing drag at cruise and shifting the velocity for maximum lift-to-drag ratio to a higher speed, while maintaining low-speed performance. The wingtip-mounted cruise propellers interact with the wingtip vortex, enabling a further efficiency increase that can reduce propulsive power by 10%. A tradespace exploration approach is developed that enables rapid identification of salient trades, and subsequent creation of SCEPTOR demonstrator geometries. These candidates were scrutinized by subject matter experts to identify design preferences that were not modeled during configuration exploration. This exploration and design approach is used to create an aircraft that consumes an estimated 4.8x less energy at the selected cruise point when compared to the original aircraft. Nomenclature = coefficient of drag 0 = coefficient of drag at zero lift = coefficient of lift = maximum coefficient of lift ⁄ = ratio of drag to dynamic pressure = battery specific energy = energy use per unit distance, conventional configuration = energy use per unit distance, distributed electric propulsion configuration = aircraft gross weight ℎ = altitude above mean sea level = induced drag constant ⁄ = ratio of lift to drag ( ⁄ ) = maximum ratio of lift to drag = mass of battery pack = power consumption of aircraft at cruise = specific excess power (instantaneous rate of climb capability) = rate of descent = range parameter at cruise power, no reserves = efficiency multiplier = velocity at cruise 0 = stall speed in the landing configuration , ∞ = airspeed velocity

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Section: B Sceptor 40mentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Performance of the NASA SCEPTOR Distributed Electric Propulsion Flight Demonstrator

Borer

Patterson

Viken

et al. 2016

16th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference

Self Cite

191

109

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Propulsion Technology Operations Research (SCEPTOR) program . The goal 9 of the program is to design a fully electric distributed propulsion general aviation aircraft which shows up to fivefold predicted efficiency improvement in the cruise mode Dubois et al, 2016). After evaluation of baseline airframe selection factors (e.g.…”

Section: General Aviation Configurationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Investigation into the Potential Benefits of Distributed Electric Propulsion on Small UAV’s at Low Reynolds Numbers

Baris

Landman

2017

35th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference

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Distributed electric propulsion systems benefit from the inherent scale independence of electric propulsion. This property allows the designer to place multiple small electric motors along the wing of an aircraft instead of using a single or several internal combustion motors with gear boxes or other power train components. Aircraft operating at low Reynolds numbers are ideal candidates for benefiting from increased local flow velocities as provided by distributed propulsion systems.In this study, a distributed electric propulsion system made up of eight motor/propellers was integrated into the leading edge of a small fixed wing-body model to investigate the expected improvements on the aerodynamics available to small UAVs operating at low Reynolds numbers. Wind tunnel tests featuring a Design of Experiments (DOE) methodology were used for aerodynamic characterization. Experiments were performed in four modes: all-propellers-on, wing-tip-propellers-alone-on, wing-alone mode, and two-inboard-propellers-on-alone mode. In addition, the all-propeller-on, wing-alone, and a single-tractor configuration were analyzed using VSPAERO, a vortex lattice code, to make comparisons between these different configurations.Results show that the distributed propulsion system has higher normal force, endurance, and range features, despite a potential weight penalty.iii

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“…These effects may not fully counterbalance the benefits mentioned previously but are to be considered in the trade study. One alternative solution, also implemented in the SCEPTOR project 8,9 , consists in folding the small leading edge-mounted propellers not required for cruise propulsion. The split ratio between nacelle-mounted and leading edge-mounted propulsive power can also be optimized (Fig.…”

Section: B Blown Wingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybrid Regional Aircraft: A Comparative Review of New Potentials Enabled by Electric Power

Thauvin¹,

Barraud²,

Budinger³

et al. 2016

52nd AIAA/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

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OATAO is an open access repository that collects the work of Toulouse researchers and makes it freely available over the web where possible. This is an author-deposited version published in : http://oatao.univ-toulouse.fr/ Eprints ID : 16020 LAPLACE(CNRS/INPT/UPS), Université de Toulouse, 31071, Toulouse, FranceThis article assesses the benefits of hybridization within the regional aircraft scale using a conventional twin-turbo propeller aircraft as reference. For a fair comparison, this reference aircraft was designed assuming a 2035 technology level. The propulsion system of the reference aircraft is analyzed along the mission and the phases of flight with low efficiencies are highlighted. Then the potential benefits of new power management through the use of secondary power generation systems but also through the variation of the size of prime movers are presented and discussed. In particular, the effect of the gas turbine size on its efficiency is studied. Finally, the article focuses on aerodynamic improvements enabled by new propeller or fan integrations and the associated concepts such as differential thrust, blown wing and boundary layer ingestion. For each topic, simplified analyses provide estimated potential of energy saving. These results can be used as indicators for selecting the most promising hybrid architecture concepts for a regional aircraft. Nomenclature

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Design of an Electric Propulsion System for SCEPTOR’s Outboard Nacelle

Cited by 42 publications

References 4 publications

Design and Performance of the NASA SCEPTOR Distributed Electric Propulsion Flight Demonstrator

Design and Performance of the NASA SCEPTOR Distributed Electric Propulsion Flight Demonstrator

An Investigation into the Potential Benefits of Distributed Electric Propulsion on Small UAV’s at Low Reynolds Numbers

Hybrid Regional Aircraft: A Comparative Review of New Potentials Enabled by Electric Power

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