Flight Path and Wing Optimization of Lithium-Air Battery Powered Passenger Aircraft

Vegh, Julius M.; Alonso, Juan J.; Orra, Tarik H.; Silva, Carlos Ilario da

doi:10.2514/6.2015-1674

Cited by 14 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Johnson predicts the power density in the Li-air to be in the range of 0.4-0.64 kW/kg [234]. Though it seems promising, it is only expected to be commercially available by the year 2030 due to the developmental challenges [165]. Furthermore, the technology has major bottlenecks as the battery discharges the oxygen particle that deposits over the cathode for potential weight gain.…”

Section: Pmsmmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Concepts, Benefits, and Challenges for Future Electrical Propulsion-Based Aircraft

2020

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Electrification of the propulsion system has opened the door to a new paradigm of propulsion system configurations and novel aircraft designs, which was never envisioned before. Despite lofty promises, the concept must overcome the design and sizing challenges to make it realizable. A suitable modeling framework is desired in order to explore the design space at the conceptual level. A greater investment in enabling technologies, and infrastructural developments, is expected to facilitate its successful application in the market. In this review paper, several scholarly articles were surveyed to get an insight into the current landscape of research endeavors and the formulated derivations related to electric aircraft developments. The barriers and the needed future technological development paths are discussed. The paper also includes detailed assessments of the implications and other needs pertaining to future technology, regulation, certification, and infrastructure developments, in order to make the next generation electric aircraft operation commercially worthy.

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Section: Pmsmmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Concepts, Benefits, and Challenges for Future Electrical Propulsion-Based Aircraft

2020

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“…5 Vegh, Alonso, Tarik, and de Silva demonstrated combined flight path and aircraft design optimization for electric passenger aircraft, although their model did not include thermal constraints due to waste heat of the propulsion system. 6 Antcliff, Guynn, et al demonstrated combined mission analysis and sizing of a hybrid electric aircraft in a multi-disciplinary optimization environment without explicit consideration of thermal constraints. 7 Christie studied the effectiveness of various cooling methods for removing the excess heat generated by electric propulsion components, concluding that heat-exchanger surface area was one of the most critical factors in determined cooling effectiveness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trajectory Optimization of Electric Aircraft Subject to Subsystem Thermal Constraints

Falck

Chin

Schnulo

et al. 2017

18th AIAA/ISSMO Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization Conference

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Electric aircraft pose a unique design challenge in that they lack a simple way to reject waste heat from the power train. While conventional aircraft reject most of their excess heat in the exhaust stream, for electric aircraft this is not an option. To examine the implications of this challenge on electric aircraft design and performance, we developed a model of the electric subsystems for the NASA X-57 electric testbed aircraft. We then coupled this model with a model of simple 2D aircraft dynamics and used a Legendre-Gauss-Lobatto collocation optimal control approach to find optimal trajectories for the aircraft with and without thermal constraints. The results show that the X-57 heat rejection systems are well designed for maximum-range and maximum-efficiency flight, without the need to deviate from an optimal trajectory. Stressing the thermal constraints by reducing the cooling capacity or requiring faster flight has a minimal impact on performance, as the trajectory optimization technique is able to find flight paths which honor the thermal constraints with relatively minor deviations from the nominal optimal trajectory.

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“…All-electric regional transport aircraft have been designed by the author using lithium-air batteries(∼ 2,000 W-h/kg, .66 kW/kg), with relatively modest weight penalties over comparable turbojet aircraft. 1 For reference, jet fuel has a specific energy ∼ 12,000 W-h/kg. Aluminum-air batteries are a recent topic of interest due to their impressive specific energy characteristics (∼1300 W-h/kg) and high technology readiness level, but possess poor specific power (∼ .2kW/kg).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Optimization of Short-Range Aluminum-Air Powered Aircraft

Vegh

Alonso

2016

54th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting

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Short-range, all-electric regional transport aircraft have been designed in an attempt to explore potential applications for carbon-free aircraft. The particular system of interest uses aluminum-air batteries, which have high specific energy characteristics (∼1300 Wh/kg), but lackluster specific power characteristics (∼.2kW/kg). Furthermore, these batteries are non-rechargeable, but have projected costs for both recycling as well as purchase of the consumed aluminum anode; this paper investigates optimization of these aircraft according to both weight and operating cost. Results suggest that these aircraft may be viable using essentially present-day technology, albeit with a significant weight penalty over comparable turboprop aircraft. Furthermore, at moderate design ranges, there are tradeoffs between weight, operating cost, as well as field length. Operating costs are projected to be substantially lower than current aircraft at a variety of design ranges and further study is recommended.

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Flight Path and Wing Optimization of Lithium-Air Battery Powered Passenger Aircraft

Cited by 14 publications

References 4 publications

A Review of Concepts, Benefits, and Challenges for Future Electrical Propulsion-Based Aircraft

A Review of Concepts, Benefits, and Challenges for Future Electrical Propulsion-Based Aircraft

Trajectory Optimization of Electric Aircraft Subject to Subsystem Thermal Constraints

Design and Optimization of Short-Range Aluminum-Air Powered Aircraft

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