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ACTA AERONAUTICAET ASTRONAUTICA SINICA ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (5): 225395-225395.doi: 10.7527/S1000-6893.2021.25395

• Solid Mechanics and Vehicle Conceptual Design • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Design of hybrid-electric fixed-wing VTOL aircraft propulsion system

ZONG Jian'an, ZHU Bingjie, HOU Zhongxi, YANG Xixiang   

  1. College of Aerospace and Material Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410000, China
  • Received:2021-02-07 Revised:2021-04-10 Published:2021-04-21
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China (52172410, 61703414); Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province(2018JJ3590)

Abstract: Through optimization of secondary energy systems, hybrid-electric systems can improve the efficiency of energy utilization, and gain a unique advantage of size independence of electric propulsion, which can distribute multiple propellers without significant changes in efficiency and weight, thereby having great potential in the development of general aviation technology. In this paper, based on the top-level design requirements and an estimated initial Maximum Takeoff Mass (MTOM) of a fixed-wing Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft, the design space of the hybrid-electric system is constructed by point performance constraints, through which the initial design parameters of horizontal and vertical propulsion systems are obtained. Combined with the specific mission, the weight of the battery and fuel is calculated. After several iterations and energy operations, the design parameters of the propulsion system are obtained, including the MTOM, the weight of each component of the hybrid-electric system, and the weight of battery and fuel. In the design space, taking the hybridization of power as a variable, we analyze the different design objectives between the minimum MTOM and the minimum fuel consumption, providing the design basis for the hybrid-electric aircraft in different scenarios. Finally, the effectiveness of the design method is verified through comparison analysis.

Key words: vertical takeoff and landing(VTOL), all-electric aircraft, hybrid-electric aircraft, hyrid-electric system design, hybrid-electric propulsion

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