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Keywords Conferences, Aircraft
Aircraft have become more and more electric for many years and a recent conference at the Royal Aeronautical Society investigated the development processes by which this is coming about and looked forward to further progress in this fast moving field. Steps in the advance to date include voltage change in the 1950s, fly-by-wire (FBW) in the A320 in the 1980s, and more recently, power-by-wire electrically powered flight control. Current research programmes have great potential but problems remain to be solved, particularly with large aircraft.
The two-day conference was organized in four sessions, the first concerned with present/anticipated platforms. The initial paper was given by Lester Faleiro of Liebherr Aerospace on Trends Towards a More Electric Aircraft. Conventional power distribution includes pneumatic power bled from the engine compressor(s), a mechanical accessories gearbox, the central hydraulic pump, and the main generator providing electrical power to the avionics, etc. The road to the more-electric aircraft (MEA) is a long one and two programmes starting in the late 1990s began to look at it from an aircraft level perspective. One, the Totally Integrated More Electric Systems (TIMES) is supported by the DTI and uses previously developed systems and integrates them in an electrical network to determine the viability of using such a network in a future MEA. The other is the US Air Force Research Laboratory MEA programme which is a dual use venture but with an initial concentration on providing a more-electrical weapons capability for fighter aircraft. Another study, Power Optimised Aircraft (POA) began in 2002 and will run for 4 years.
Progress at systems level was considerable with both advantages and disadvantages becoming apparent, with more electrical systems tending to be heavier but more energy efficient and more reliable. At aircraft level the most vital achievement in the first phase of the programme has been the creation of a set of aircraft requirements. Notable results to date include the features of decreasing engine autonomy, increasing availability, the importance of snowball effects, the effects of load distribution, and the need to consolidate power electronics and drives. Overall, a civil transport MEA in the vein of POA is feasible and realisable within a surprisingly short time.
The More Electric Engine (MEE) concept was explored by...