Print Email Facebook Twitter Assessment of Potential Fuel Saving Benefits of Hybrid-Electric Regional Aircraft Title Assessment of Potential Fuel Saving Benefits of Hybrid-Electric Regional Aircraft Author Van Bogaert, J. Contributor Voskuijl, M. (mentor) Rao, A.G. (mentor) Faculty Aerospace Engineering Department Flight Performance and Propulsion Programme Flight Performance and Propulsion Date 2015-12-17 Abstract Both NASA and the EU have set ambitious goals in terms of aircraft emission reduction. Previous studies have indicated that these goals can not be met with evolutionary improvements of conventional technologies. For this reason there is a need for revolutionary aircraft concept and/or radical innovative systems. One such concept is the use of a hybrid-electric propulsion system. The aim of this project is to investigate the potential improvements in fuel consumption of a hybrid-electric regional aircraft which uses both batteries and conventional fuel as power source. Since no comprehensive design studies of such a concept have been performed so far, the design space is explored as well. For this purpose the “Initiator” design program is adapted in order to be able to design hybrid-electric aircraft. All designs are constructed for the year 2035, therefore, an estimation of the expected technological progress between now and the year 2035 is performed as well. In particular the battery - and electric motor technology has been investigated. The influence of many factors, such as the battery specific energy, degree of hybridization and range, on the total design have been investigated. It is found that significant fuel consumption reduction can be achieved by using a hybrid-electric power plant. Increasing the range will decrease the amount of fuel saving significantly. Up to a range of around 4000 km (depending on the battery specific energy) a fuel reduction can be achieved. After a certain point more energy is required to transport the batteries than the energy contained within, and using a hybrid-electric power plant will actually require more fuel. Even when using conservative estimates for the expected technological progress, a fuel saving up to 30% can be expected for a typical regional aircraft mission. Subject hybrid-electricaircraft To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:0fc7019f-d988-45c1-a7e2-55825f4f90ca Part of collection Student theses Document type master thesis Rights (c) 2015 Van Bogaert, J. Files PDF Thesis_Joris_Van_Bogaert.pdf 5.36 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:0fc7019f-d988-45c1-a7e2-55825f4f90ca/datastream/OBJ/view