Communicating Between Ducted Fans and the Wing

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Aircraft quite often seem to get designed as an assembly of separate components, wings an entity unto themselves, engines or motors something attached to the fuselage or wings, and not always seen as a set of matched components until final assembly.  Quite often, different components are compromised from their optimal shape or structure because of the need to integrate them with other parts of the craft.  One group of researchers is finding ways to even cause components to begin communicating among themselves. Some parts, such as engines or motors, are hung on the wing or fuselage as replacements for earlier design variants.  The new powerplants may provide additional power, but they may also interfere with the overall performance and handling …

Electric Propulsion for Big Birds

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Graham Warwick reports in the August 25 Aviation Week that NASA is investigating the creation of megawatt-scale electric propulsion systems for airliners.  These would be much more powerful than those in cars or even semi-trucks, and far lighter than equivalent units in ships. NASA’s research involves partnering with the University of Illinois, Ohio State University, General Electric, and Boeing.  NASA Glenn Research Center is working on its own self-cooled, superconducting wound field synchronous motor as part of the overall effort. NASA’s focus, according to the article, “is on electric machines that can be used as generators (sources) and motors (loads) and power electronics that convert AC to DC (rectifiers) and DC to AC (inverters).”  Research includes wiring systems that can distribute …