Commercial Aircraft Propulsion and Energy Systems Research: Reducing Global Carbon Emissions
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS This PDF is available at http://nap.edu/23490 SHARE Commercial Aircraft Propulsion and Energy Systems Research: Reducing Global Carbon Emissions DETAILS 122 pages | 8.5 x 11 | PAPERBACK ISBN 978-0-309-44096-7 | DOI 10.17226/23490 CONTRIBUTORS GET THIS BOOK Committee on Propulsion and Energy Systems to Reduce Commercial Aviation Carbon Emissions; Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board; Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine FIND RELATED TITLES Visit the National Academies Press at NAP.edu and login or register to get: – Access to free PDF downloads of thousands of scientific reports – 10% off the price of print titles – Email or social media notifications of new titles related to your interests – Special offers and discounts Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the National Academies Press. (Request Permission) Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Commercial Aircraft Propulsion and Energy Systems Research: Reducing Global Carbon Emissions 4 Electric Propulsion INTRODUCTION Electrical propulsion in commercial aircraft may be able to reduce carbon emissions, but only if new technolo- gies attain the specific power,1 weight, and reliability required for a successful commercial fleet. The committee considered six different electric propulsion architectures. As shown in Figure 4.1, one is all-electric, three are hybrid electric, and two are turboelectric: • All electric • Hybrid electric —Parallel hybrid —Series hybrid —Series/parallel partial hybrid • Turboelectric —Full turboelectric —Partial turboelectric These six architectures, which are shown in Figure 4.1, rely on different electric technologies (batteries, motors, generators, etc.) The levels of CO2 reduction associated with the different architectures are a function of the configuration, component performances, and missions. The results of system studies on various architectures are summarized in the following section. All-electric systems use batteries as the only source of propulsion power on the aircraft. The hybrid systems use gas turbine engines for propulsion and to charge batteries; the batteries also provide energy for propulsion during one or more phases of flight. As shown in Figure 4.1, with a parallel hybrid system, a battery-powered motor and a turbine engine are both mounted on a shaft that drives a fan, so that either or both can provide propulsion at any given time. With a series hybrid system, only the electric motors are mechanically connected to the fans; the gas turbine is used to drive an electrical generator, the output of which drives the motors and/or charges the batteries. Series hybrid systems are compatible with distributed propulsion concepts, which 1 In this report, “specific power” and “specific energy” refer to power and energy per unit mass, respectively, and “power density” and “energy density” refer to power and energy per unit volume. 51 Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Commercial Aircraft Propulsion and Energy Systems Research: Reducing Global Carbon Emissions 52 COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT PROPULSION AND ENERGY SYSTEMS RESEARCH FIGURE 4.1 Electric propulsion architectures. SOURCE: Modified from James L. Felder, NASA Glenn Research Center, “NASA Hybrid Electric Propulsion Systems Structures,” presentation to the committee on September 1, 2015. use multiple relatively small motors and fans. The series/parallel partial hybrid system has one or more fans that can be driven directly by a gas turbine as well as other fans that are driven exclusively by electrical motors; these motors can be powered by a battery or by a turbine-driven generator. Full and partial turboelectric configurations do not rely on batteries for propulsion energy during any phase of flight. Rather, they use gas turbines to drive electric generators, which power inverters and eventually individual direct current (DC) motors that drive the individual distributed electric fans. A partial turboelectric system is a variant of the full turboelectric system that uses electric propulsion to provide part of the propulsive power; the rest is provided by a turbofan driven by a gas turbine. As a result, the electrical components for a partial turboelectric system can be developed with smaller advances beyond the state of the art than are required for a full turboelectric system. Because it is relatively easy to transmit power electrically to multiple widely spaced motors, turboelectric and other electric propulsion concepts are well-suited to distributed propulsion for higher bypass ratios, and they provide aircraft design options for maximizing the benefits of boundary layer ingestion (BLI) in the fans. Turboelectric propulsion research is one of the four high-priority approaches identified in this report for developing advanced propulsion and energy system technologies that could be introduced into service during the next 10 to 30 years to reduce CO2 emissions. As detailed in the section Technology Needs, below, hybrid-electric and all-electric systems are not recommended as a high-priority approach because the committee determined that batteries with the power capacity and specific power required for commercial aircraft at least as large as a regional jet are unlikely to be matured to the point that products satisfying FAA certification requirements can be developed Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Commercial Aircraft Propulsion and Energy Systems Research: Reducing Global Carbon Emissions ELECTRIC PROPULSION 53 within the 30-year time frame addressed by this report. The same situation applies to technologies associated with superconducting motors and generators, fuel cells, and cryogenic fuels. All-electric battery-powered airplane configurations will be limited to small aircraft (general aviation and commuter aircraft), which are not a signifi- cant source of CO2 emissions compared to larger commercial aircraft. For large commercial aircraft it is likely that fuel cell applications will be limited to secondary systems such as auxiliary power units and starter systems. Considerable improvements in the specific power of batteries and fuel cells will have to be attained before these power sources would be considered for large aircraft. In addition, the net reduction in CO2 emissions from using all-electric or fuel-cell systems is greatly minimized unless the electrical power used to (1) charge the batteries or (2) produce the hydrogen used to power the fuel cells is generated using renewable or low-carbon-emission technologies. SYSTEM STUDIES CONDUCTED BY INDUSTRY, GOVERNMENT, AND ACADEMIA The committee drew upon an extensive list of recent electric and hybrid electric aircraft system studies con- ducted by industry, government, and academia. The experts who conducted many of the studies briefed the com- mittee, and several committee members directly participated in or monitored some of the studies. The studies considered by the committee are listed and summarized in Table 4.1. These studies can be cat- egorized in different ways. Most were aircraft conceptual studies where advanced electrical components were assumed to be available in the future, but they varied widely in assumed aircraft size, range, electrical architecture, TABLE 4.1 System Studies of Aircraft with Electric Propulsion Name and Component Organization Aircraft Time Frame Electric Architecture Components Performance Boeing Single-aisle N + 3 Parallel hybrid Motor (1.3-5.3 MW) 3-5 kW/kg SUGARa,b,c Batteries 750 Wh/kg N + 4 Parallel hybrid Motor 8-10 kW/kg (fuel cells, Batteries 1,000 Wh/kg superconducting, cryogenic fuels, BLI, open fan) Bauhausd,e Regional and N + 3 Parallel hybrid Batteries 1,000-1,500 Wh/kg single-aisle N + 4 All-electric Batteries 1,780-2,000 Wh/kg NASA N3Xf Twin-aisle N + 3 Turboelectric Generator (30 MW), >10 kW/kg @ 98% (N + 4) (distributed motor (4 MW) efficiency propulsion, BLI, (and other superconducting, combinations) cryogenic fuels) ESAerof Single-aisle N + 2 Turboelectric Generator 8 kW/kg (N + 4) (distributed Motor 4.5 kW/kg propulsion, superconducting) NASA small General aviation N + 1 Turboelectric Generator (<1 MW), 6.5 kW/kg aircraftg (distributed motor (<1 MW) propulsion with powered lift) All-electric Batteries >400 Wh/kg Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Commercial Aircraft Propulsion and Energy Systems Research: Reducing Global Carbon Emissions 54 COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT PROPULSION AND ENERGY SYSTEMS RESEARCH TABLE 4.1 Continued Name and Component Organization Aircraft Time Frame Electric Architecture Components Performance UTRCh Single-aisle N + 3 Parallel hybrid Motor, batteries Not specified Any airliner N + 3 Auxiliary power unit Generator 3-10 kW/kg (fuel cell, cryogenic fuel) Airbusi General aviation N + 1 All-electric Batteries 250-400 Wh/kg Hybrid Motor, generator Not specified Single-aisle N + 3 Series hybrid Batteries 800 Wh/kg (dist. prop., BLI) Cambridgej General aviation N + 1 Parallel hybrid Batteries 150-750 Wh/kg Single-aisle N + 3 Parallel hybrid Batteries 750 Wh/kg NASAf STARC-ABL Single-aisle N + 3 Partial turboelectric Generator (1.45 MW), 13 kW/kg (BLI) motor (2.6 MW) Georgia Techk Single-aisle N + 3 Parallel hybrid Motor (1 MW) 3-5 kW/kg Batteries 750 Wh/kg a M.K. Bradley, and C.K. Droney,