hybrid-electric powertrain, power electronic converters, aircraft propulsion
Abstract
The study of hybrid-electric aircraft in recent years was motivated by efforts for diminishing the emissions on aerial transportation. Alternative aircraft powertrain design developments aim for replacing actual technologies, employing several approaches and methodologies. However, to set the basic specifications of a powertrain is a complex challenge. Present work depicts the detailed design and modeling of the electrical subsystem of a hybrid-electric powertrain in serial topology, intended to replace the actual system on a fixed-wing drone from a Brazilian company. The required power and weight of the modeled components were defined on a previous work that analyzes the complete aircraft powertrain and its subsystems. The application that includes electric generator (EG), power electronic converters (PECs), battery pack, and electric motor (EM), was developed in MATLAB/Simulink. Several power conditions were tested, ranging from zero to nominal power of the set, and with the model submitted to step power variations the electrical variables were sampled. The results in steady state yield the equations that represent the relations of power and efficiency between the input and output of each device. These equations will be applied in a more in-depth analysis for the aircraft studied.
