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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 487 records · Page 27
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2015

Exploring Propulsion System Requirements for More and All-Electric Helicopters

Helicopters offer unique capabilities that are important for certain missions. More and all-electric propulsion systems for helicopters offer the potential for improved efficiency, reliability, vehicle and mission capabilities as well as reduced harmful emissions. To achieve these propulsion system-based benefits, the relevant requirements must be understood and developed for the various component, sub-component and ancillary systems of the overall propulsion system. Three representative helicopters were used to explore propulsion and overall vehicle and mission requirements. These vehicles varied from light utility (one to three occupants) to highly capable (three crew members plus ten passengers and cargo). Assuming 15 and 30 year technology availability, analytical models for electric system components were developed to understand component and ancillary requirements. Overall propulsion system characteristics were developed and used for vehicle sizing and mission analyses to understand the tradeoffs of component performance and weight, with increase in vehicle size and mission capability. Study results indicate that only the light utility vehicle retained significant payload for an arbitrary 100 nautical mile range assuming 15 year technology. Thirty year technology assumptions for battery energy storage are sufficient to enable some range and payload capabilities, but further improvements in energy density are required to maintain or exceed payload and range capabilities versus present systems. Hydrocarbon-fueled range extenders can be prudently used to recover range and payload deficiencies resulting from battery energy density limitations. Thermal loads for electric systems are low heat quality, but seem manageable. To realize the benefits from more and all-electric systems, technology goals must be achieved, as well as identify vehicles, missions and systems that are best suited to take advantage of their unique characteristics.

gearbox↗
NASA NTRS2015

NASA Electric Propulsion System Studies

An overview of NASA efforts in the area of hybrid electric and turboelectric propulsion in large transport. This overview includes a list of reasons why we are looking at transmitting some or all of the propulsive power for the aircraft electrically, a list of the different types of hybrid-turbo electric propulsion systems, and the results of 4 aircraft studies that examined different types of hybrid-turbo electric propulsion systems.

Jet Propulsion↗
NASA NTRS2016

NASA Electric Aircraft Test Bed (NEAT) Development Plan - Design, Fabrication, Installation

As large airline companies compete to reduce emissions, fuel, noise, and maintenance costs, it is expected that more of their aircraft systems will shift from using turbofan propulsion, pneumatic bleed power, and hydraulic actuation, to instead using electrical motor propulsion, generator power, and electrical actuation. This requires new flight-weight and flight-efficient powertrain components, fault tolerant power management, and electromagnetic interference mitigation technologies. Moreover, initial studies indicate some combination of ambient and cryogenic thermal management and relatively high bus voltages when compared to state of practice will be required to achieve a net system benefit. Developing all these powertrain technologies within a realistic aircraft architectural geometry and under realistic operational conditions requires a unique electric aircraft testbed. This report will summarize existing testbed capabilities located in the U.S. and details the development of a unique complementary testbed that industry and government can utilize to further mature electric aircraft technologies.

Hybrid Electric↗
NASA NTRS2017

150 kW Class Solar Electric Propulsion Spacecraft Power Architecture Model

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Demonstration Mission (SEP TDM), in conjunction with PC Krause and Associates, has created a Simulink-based power architecture model for a 50 kilo-Watt (kW) solar electric propulsion system. NASA has extended this model to investigate 150 kW solar electric propulsion systems. Increasing the power capability to 150 kW is an intermediate step to the anticipated power requirements for Mars and other deep space applications. The high-power solar electric propulsion capability has been identified as a critical part of NASA’s future beyond-low-Earth-orbit for human-crewed exploration missions. This paper presents four versions of a 150 kW architecture, simulation results, and a discussion of their merits.

Power Control↗
NASA NTRS2017

150 kW Class Solar Electric Propulsion Spacecraft Power Architecture Model

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Demonstration Mission in conjunction with PC Krause and Associates has created a Simulink-based power architecture model for a 50 kilo-Watt (kW) solar electric propulsion system. NASA has extended this model to investigate 150 kW solar electric propulsion systems. Increasing the power system capability from 50 kW to 150 kW better aligns with the anticipated power requirements for Mars and other deep space explorations. The high-power solar electric propulsion capability has been identified as a critical part of NASAs future beyond-low-Earth-orbit for human-crewed exploration missions. This paper presents multiple 150 kW architectures, simulation results, and a discussion of their merits.

Power Control↗
NASA NTRS2017

Prognostics and Health Monitoring: Application to Electric Vehicles

As more and more autonomous electric vehicles emerge in our daily operation progressively, a very critical challenge lies in accurate prediction of remaining useful life of the systemssubsystems, specifically the electrical powertrain. In case of electric aircrafts, computing remaining flying time is safety-critical, since an aircraft that runs out of power (battery charge) while in the air will eventually lose control leading to catastrophe. In order to tackle and solve the prediction problem, it is essential to have awareness of the current state and health of the system, especially since it is necessary to perform condition-based predictions. To be able to predict the future state of the system, it is also required to possess knowledge of the current and future operations of the vehicle.Our research approach is to develop a system level health monitoring safety indicator either to the pilotautopilot for the electric vehicles which runs estimation and prediction algorithms to estimate remaining useful life of the vehicle e.g. determine state-of-charge in batteries. Given models of the current and future system behavior, a general approach of model-based prognostics can be employed as a solution to the prediction problem and further for decision making.

Prognostics↗
NASA NTRS2018

Electric Motor Noise for Small Quadcopters: Part I - Acoustic Measurements

There is increased interest in using electric motors to drive propulsors across a range of small air vehicle classes. Applications include both vertical lift and conventional takeoff and landing systems for Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Mission profiles call for integrating these systems into urban airspaces exposing populated areas to new noise sources. In addition to the propulsor noise from rotors and propellers, electric motors are expected to contribute to the overall sound levels and possibly human annoyance. This work presents acoustic measurements of electric motors used for small quadcopters to characterize the sound and identify sources with and without a propeller. Free field microphone measurements were used to determine directivity and a phased microphone array was used to identify sound sources. A companion paper (Part II – Source Characteristics and Prediction) compares the far field results with current probe measurements of the signal driving the motor, the structural response of the motor case, and describes prediction methods of electric motor noise.

Aircraft Noise↗
NASA NTRS2018

Dynamic Analysis of the hFan, a Parallel Hybrid Electric Turbofan Engine

NASA and a variety of aerospace industry stakeholders are investing in conceptual studies of electrified aircraft, including parallel hybrid electric aircraft such as the Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Volt. At this point, little of the work published in the literature has examined the transient behavior of the turbomachinery in these systems. This paper describes a control system built around the hFan, the parallel hybrid electric turbofan engine designed for the SUGAR Volt concept aircraft. This control system is used to show that the hFan, running with its baseline concept of operations, is capable of transient operation throughout the envelope. The design parameters of this controller are varied to assess the amount of operability margin built into the engine design, and whether this margin can be reduced to enable more aggressive designs, that may feature better fuel economy. Further, studies are performed as parameters for the hFan electric motor are varied to determine how the motor impacts the engine's need for transient operability margin. The studies suggest that the engine may be redesigned with as much as a 3% reduction in high pressure compressor stall margin. It was also demonstrated that appropriate design and control of the electric motor may be able to buy an additional 0.5% stall margin reduction or a turbine inlet temperature reduction of 35 degR, as tested at the sea-level static condition.

turboelectric↗
NASA NTRS2018

Electric Motor Noise from Small Quadcopters: Part 1 - Acoustic Measurements

There is increased interest in using electric motors to drive propulsors across a range of small air vehicle classes. Applications include both vertical lift and conventional takeoff and landing systems for Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Mission profiles call for integrating these systems into urban airspaces exposing populated areas to new noise sources. In addition to the propulsor noise from rotors and propellers, electric motors are expected to contribute to the overall sound levels and possibly human annoyance. This work presents acoustic measurements of electric motors used for small quadcopters to characterize the sound and identify sources with and without a propeller. Free field microphone measurements were used to determine directivity and a phased microphone array was used to identify sound sources. A companion paper (Part II - Source Characteristics and Prediction) compares the far field results with current probe measurements of the signal driving the motor, the structural response of the motor case, and describes prediction methods of electric motor noise.

Electric Propulsion↗
NASA NTRS2018

Electric Motor Noise from Small Quadcopters: Source Characteristics - Part II

The increased interest in electric motors for propulsion systems has driven interest in quantifying the contribution of electric motor noise to the overall sound levels and possible human annoyance of the propulsion system. This work presents acoustic measurements of electric motors used for small quadcopters to quantify the sound produced by a number of outrunning motors with different types of controllers. Results are presented for loaded and unloaded motors as installed and uninstalled configurations. Motor resonance frequencies were measured and computed. Current probe measurements showed that the supply current from the controllers contained significant harmonic content for the conventional and sinewave controllers. Acoustic results showed motor noise is typically radiated at frequencies near the mode 2 vibration frequency at roughly 5000 Hz. Electric motor noise was evident in the spectra produced by many of the motor-controller combinations for motors loaded with propellers with levels often greater than those for the motor alone due to increase in the stator magnetic flux density with increased current. An installed configuration produced increases in acoustic radiation over that of the uninstalled motor in a frequency range near the mode 1 vibration frequency near 1200 Hz. A companion paper (Part I - Acoustic Measurements), focuses on source identification using a phased array and directivity characteristics for a baseline configuration.

Motor Resonance Frequencies↗
NASA NTRS2018

Dynamic Analysis of the hFan, a Parallel Hybrid Electric Turbofan Engine

NASA and a variety of aerospace industry stakeholders are investing in conceptual studies of electrified aircraft, including parallel hybrid electric aircraft such as the Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Volt. At this point, little of the work published in the literature has examined the transient behavior of the turbomachinery in these systems. This paper describes a control system built around the hFan, the parallel hybrid electric turbofan engine designed for the SUGAR Volt concept aircraft. This control system is used to show that the hFan, running with its baseline concept of operations, is capable of transient operation throughout the envelope. The design parameters of this controller are varied to assess the amount of operability margin built into the engine design, and whether this margin can be reduced to enable more aggressive designs, that may feature better fuel economy. Further, studies are performed as parameters for the hFan electric motor are varied to determine how the motor impacts the engine's need for transient operability margin. The studies suggest that the engine may be redesigned with as much as a 3% reduction in high pressure compressor stall margin. It was also demonstrated that appropriate design and control of the electric motor may be able to buy an additional 0.5% stall margin reduction or a turbine inlet temperature reduction of 35 R, as tested at the sea-level static condition.

SUGAR Volt↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Solid-state Architecture Batteries for Enhanced Rechargeability and Safety for Electric Aircraft

All electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOL) for urban air mobility (UAM) concepts face numerous challenging technical barriers before their introduction into the consumer marketplace. The most challenging of these technical barriers to overcome is developing an energy storage system capable of meeting the rigorous aerospace safety and performance criteria. The performance metrics for eVTOL craft are at least 2 times greater than those of electric automobiles. Furthermore, safety is essential for operation of commercial electric aerovehicles. Preliminary systems level analysis has indicated that there are five key properties which must be optimized for successful implementation of battery systems. Those five key criteria are: safety, energy density, power, packaging design and scalability. Current state-of-the-art (SOA) lithium-ion batteries meet or exceed the requirements for electric aviation in the areas of power and scalability, yet are insufficient in the key performance criteria of energy, safety and packaging design. The SABERS concept proposes a battery that meets all five key performance criteria through development of a solid-state architecture battery utilizing high energy density and power density sulfur-selenium cathode with a lithium metal anode. The combination of sulfur and selenium offers a balanced energy-to-power density ratio, which can be tailored to the specific application by altering the stoichiometric ratios of sulfur to selenium. This cathode will be developed by implementing NASA patented holey graphene technology as a highly conductive, ultra-lightweight electrode scaffold. A solid-state electrolyte will be used as a safe, non-flammable replacement to the highly flammable liquid organic electrolytes currently used in SOA lithium-ion batteries. This solid-state lithium-sulfur-selenium cell will be designed into a serial stacking configuration to enable dense packaging of the battery cells. The serial stacking configuration is termed a bipolar stack, which has the advantages of reducing overall cell weight, reducing the amount of interfaced connections for the cell, and minimizing the cooling requirements for the cell. Lastly, optimization of battery components will occur through a robust and rigorous combination of various computational modeling techniques covering multiple length scales. The expected result will be a fully solid-state battery with operational temperatures from 0 °C to 150 °C which provides the required energy density, discharge rates, and inherent safety to meet the strict aerospace performance criteria. This presentation will show initial results that demonstrate the SABERS Team has developed a composite carbon-sulfur cathode which exceeds 1100 Wh/kg at a discharge rate of 0.4C, and 804 Wh/kg at a discharge rate of 1C. Additionally, this presentation will show the SABERS Team multiscale computational modeling approach and has produced a novel particle dynamics method called Solid Electrolyte Sphere Approximation Model (SESAM). SESAM is on the 1-10 µm scale and provides electromechanical and grain interactions for predictive design guidelines for the experimental team to follow.

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Vehicles↗
NASA NTRS2022

Modeling of Electro-Magneto-Thermo-Mechanical Interactions in High Voltage Materials and Structures for Electric Propulsion

The growing interest in developing high-voltage-, high-power-capable electrical components for electric aircraft propulsion requires a more in-depth understanding of their electrical characteristics, critical material responses, and their synergistic influence on the overall performance of the system. A model that can accurately replicate the electrical, magnetic, thermal, and mechanical operating stresses and successfully predict the performance of the components will help engineers optimize the system design for a given airframe and powertrain.

electric propulsion↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Exploration of the Versatile Electrically Augmented Turbine Engine Gearbox Concept

Integration of electric machines with the shafts of gas turbine engines is implied in various electrified aircraft propulsion concepts. This includes implementation of the Turbine Electrified Energy Management (TEEM) concept, a motivator for the Versatile Electrically Augmented Turbine Engine (VEATE) gearbox. The VEATE gearbox is a mechanical power transmission concept that seeks to interface electric machines with a gas turbine engine in a synergistic manner. It enables a hybrid electro-mechanical approach for managing power in a gas turbine engine. It is hypothesized that the mechanical design of the VEATE gearbox could be leveraged to enhance the versatility of the present electrical hardware. The VEATE gearbox concept is first introduced and applied to an electrified two-spool advanced geared turbofan meant for powering a single-aisle commercial aircraft. A modeling approach for the gearbox is presented and studies are conducted to investigate the potential application to TEEM and power extraction. There is evidence that the VEATE gearbox could help to reduce the size of the TEEM power system, provide flexibility in power extraction implementation, and exhibit fail-safe design attributes.

Electrified Aircraft Propulsion↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Exploration of the Versatile Electrically Augmented Turbine Engine Gearbox Concept

Integration of electric machines with the shafts of gas turbine engines is implied in various electrified aircraft propulsion concepts. This includes implementation of the Turbine Electrified Energy Management (TEEM) concept, a motivator for the Versatile Electrically Augmented Turbine Engine (VEATE) gearbox. The VEATE gearbox is a mechanical power transmission concept that seeks to interface electric machines with a gas turbine engine in a synergistic manner. It enables a hybrid electro-mechanical approach for managing power in a gas turbine engine. It is hypothesized that the mechanical design of the VEATE gearbox could be leveraged to enhance the versatility of the present electrical hardware. The VEATE gearbox concept is first introduced and applied to an electrified two-spool advanced geared turbofan meant for powering a single-aisle commercial aircraft. A modeling approach for the gearbox is presented and studies are conducted to investigate the potential application to TEEM and power extraction. There is evidence that the VEATE gearbox could help to reduce the size of the TEEM power system, provide flexibility in power extraction implementation, and exhibit fail-safe design attributes.

Versatile Electrically Augmented Turbine Engine Ge↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Computational Modeling Development of Solid-state Architecture Batteries for Enhanced Rechargeability and Safety for Electric Aircraft

All electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOL) for urban air mobility (UAM) concepts face numerous challenging technical barriers before their introduction into the consumer marketplace. The most challenging of these technical barriers to overcome is developing an energy storage system capable of meeting the rigorous aerospace safety and performance criteria. The performance metrics for eVTOL craft are at least 2 times greater than those of electric automobiles. Furthermore, safety is essential for operation of commercial electric aerovehicles. Preliminary systems level analysis has indicated that there are five key properties which must be optimized for successful implementation of battery systems. Those five key criteria are: safety, energy density, power, packaging design and scalability. Current state-of-the-art (SOA) lithium-ion batteries meet or exceed the requirements for electric aviation in the areas of power and scalability, yet are insufficient in the key performance criteria of energy, safety and packaging design. The SABERS concept proposes a battery that meets all five key performance criteria through development of a solid-state architecture battery utilizing high energy density and power density sulfur-selenium cathode with a lithium metal anode. The combination of sulfur and selenium offers a balanced energy-to-power density ratio, which can be tailored to the specific application by altering the stoichiometric ratios of sulfur to selenium. This cathode will be developed by implementing NASA patented holey graphene technology as a highly conductive, ultra-lightweight electrode scaffold. A solid-state electrolyte will be used as a safe, non-flammable replacement to the highly flammable liquid organic electrolytes currently used in SOA lithium-ion batteries. This solid-state lithium-sulfur-selenium cell will be designed into a serial stacking configuration to enable dense packaging of the battery cells. The serial stacking configuration is termed a bipolar stack, which has the advantages of reducing overall cell weight, reducing the amount of interfaced connections for the cell, and minimizing the cooling requirements for the cell. Lastly, optimization of battery components will occur through a robust and rigorous combination of various computational modeling techniques covering multiple length scales. The expected result will be a fully solid-state battery with operational temperatures from 0 °C to 150 °C which provides the required energy density, discharge rates, and inherent safety to meet the strict aerospace performance criteria. This presentation will show initial results that demonstrate the SABERS Team has developed a composite carbon-sulfur cathode which exceeds 1100 Wh/kg at a discharge rate of 0.4C, and 804 Wh/kg at a discharge rate of 1C. Additionally, this presentation will show the SABERS Team multiscale computational modeling approach and has produced a novel particle dynamics method called Solid Electrolyte Sphere Approximation Model (SESAM). SESAM is on the 1-10 µm scale and provides electromechanical and grain interactions for predictive design guidelines for the experimental team to follow.

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Vehicles↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Solid-state Architecture Batteries for Enhanced Rechargeability and Safety (SABERS) for Electric Aircraft

All-electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOL) for urban air mobility (UAM) concepts face numerous challenging technical barriers before their introduction into the consumer marketplace. The primary barrier to overcome is developing an energy storage system capable of meeting the rigorous aerospace safety and performance criteria. The performance metrics for eVTOL vehicles are at least two times greater than those of electric ground vehicles. Furthermore, inherently non-flammable batteries are essential for safe operation of commercial electric aerovehicles. The SABERS concept proposes a battery that meets the key performance criteria through development of a solid-state architecture battery utilizing high-capacity sulfur-selenium cathode and lithium metal anode. The combination of sulfur and selenium offers a balanced energy-to-power density ratio, which can be tailored to the specific application by altering the stoichiometric ratios of sulfur to selenium. This hybrid cathode will be developed by implementing NASA patented holey graphene technology as a highly conductive, ultra-lightweight electrode scaffold. A solid-state electrolyte will be used as a safe, non-flammable replacement to the highly flammable liquid organic electrolytes currently used in SOA lithium-ion batteries. This solid-state lithium-sulfur/selenium cell will be designed into a serial stacking configuration to enable dense packaging of the battery cells. The serial stacking configuration is termed a bipolar stack, which has the advantages of reducing overall cell weight, simplifying the interfaced connections for the cell, and minimizing the cooling requirements. Lastly, optimization of battery components will occur through a robust and rigorous combination of various computational modeling techniques covering multiple length scales. The expected result will be a fully solid-state battery with operational temperatures up to 150 °C which provides the required energy density, discharge rates, and inherent safety to meet the strict aerospace mission performance criteria. This presentation will demonstrate a feasible path for solid-state cells that possess a specific energy of greater than 400 Wh/kg to enable electric aircraft.

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Vehicles↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Technology Maturation Plan for the Development of Nuclear Electric Propulsion

Over the last two years NASA’s Space Nuclear Propulsion (SNP) Project formulated a Technology Maturation Plan (TMP) for development of the sub-systems needed for a MW-class Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) system which, combined with a high thrust chemical propulsion stage, would be suitable for human missions to Mars. Two recent assessments, independently conducted by the National Academies for Science, Engineering, and Medicine and the NASA Engineering & Safety Center, concluded that the technologies required for a high-power NEP system are immature and the attendant risks insufficiently quantified to justify initiating a flight project. For NEP to be available as a viable option to meet flight opportunities in the late 2030s / 2040s time frame, development of the key sub-systems must begin now. SNP has subdivided the NEP system into five Critical Technology Elements (CTE): the nuclear reactor, power conversion, power management and distribution, electric propulsion sub-system, and the primary heat rejection system. Development plans for each of these CTEs have been drafted which will serve as the template for a focused milestone-driven research and development campaign intended to advance each CTE to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5. This will be accomplished by building and testing hardware at relevant power levels (~ 1 MW) and for relevant durations (2,500 hours, ~10% of the required operational lifetime) and conducting numerical modeling of the CTEs anchored by the accumulated test data to predict system performance and reliability. Concurrent with this work, high-level coupled system/mission modeling will be carried out to refine the key performance parameters that the various CTEs must achieve. Non-advocate reviews will be held at milestone points to assess progress and inform down-select decisions. The strategy for formulating the TMP was described previously*; this paper describes ongoing progress on the drafting and baselining of the plan, including key specific details. * “Strategy for Developing Technologies for Megawatt-class Nuclear Electric Propulsion Systems”, K.A. Polzin, et. al., International Electric Propulsion Conference IEPC 2022, IEPC-2022-155

Nuclear Electric Propulsion↗