Power Distribution and Propulsion System for an All-Electric Regional Aircraft

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions from aviation, the electrification of civil aircraft plays an important role. Since several components have to be optimized individually and with regard to the overall system, this poses a major challenge. The optimization criterion is to minimize the weight of the entire electrical system while fulfilling all safety requirements. In this paper, an optimization methodology is applied to find the best electric power distribution system for an all-electric regional aircraft. The results are compared with the conventional propulsion system of an ATR-72-600 as a reference aircraft. The study varies multiple design parameters such as the current density of a permanent magnet synchronous machine, inverter topology, inverter and converter switching frequency, DC-link voltage, and battery power density and energy density. The results show that the largest weight is contributed by the batteries. The overall weight can be minimized by applying batteries with a high energy density.