Introduction

World air transport demand will increase 2.5 times by 2037, with a spread distribution between different segments. Global new delivery demand for jets up to 150 seats is estimated at 8,230 and turboprops at 2,320 over the next 20 years, according to Embraer’s latest market forecast. All major hybrid/electric propulsion stakeholders have consolidated clear roadmaps to achieve hybrid/electric propulsion for this  market range, and thermal management, EMI standards and the need to challenge operational and regulatory requirements are captured in all of them, as for example in NASA’s one.

For this reason, EASIER will provide solutions within the next areas:

• EMC modelling tools (WP2).
• Thermal modelling tools (WP3 & WP6).
• Architectures and methodologies to reduce weight and size of the EMI filter (WP1 & WP4).
• Development of interconnection technology for hybrid/electrical aircraft (WP5).

The aforementioned areas will be briefly in the subsections to follow stating the current status of the state of the art and the desired status by the end of EASIER.

      Innovation potential

The consortium members are mastering activities in H2020 and CleanSky 2 programs, and offer the opportunity to bring the industrial leadership into Europe by driving development of disruptive EMI mitigation and thermal management solutions by a joint effort of key aerospace industrial partners and leading universities and research institutes. According to the concepts and technical innovations detailed in Section 1.3, main innovations beyond the state-of-the-art that EASIER will bring are:

• Utilizing EMC models in the design and optimization of multiphase interconnects and power cables, aiming for minimized emissions.
• Investigation of structure integrated wiring as solution for compact and light-weight wiring with minimized EM emissions.
• Development of a novel two-phase pumped cooling system for the cooling of power electronics.
• Development of chokes for miniaturized EM filters using advanced soft magnetic material cores, optimized in terms of weight and volume. In the development 3D modelling of these chokes will be used in the design.
• Filter size reduction while combining advantages of passive and active filters, i.e. hybrid approach. Develop the use of these filters for high power in an aircraft operation environment.
• Development of software based EMI mitigation applicable and tailored to specific power electronics system architectures.
• Multidisciplinary optimizations and trade-offs in an aircraft electronic system that includes hybrid/electric propulsion, aimed to get an optimal integrated solution regarding EM emissions, heat dissipation, weight and volume.
• Differentiated EMI limits for the hybrid/electric propulsion section of the aircraft electrical system and the rest of the electric system supplying power to aircraft loads.
• New design rules that accommodate for new electronics that are involved with electric flight will be derived and communicated to standardization agencies.

In addition, EASIER will increase the European innovation potential in Aeronautics and Air Transport. Major airframers are investing in technologies to make aviation greener, faster and more reliable. With fuel costs escalating, manufacturers are increasing looking to enhance efficiency. For that matter the proposed innovation within EASIER and that has been detailed through this subsection is key to achieve this milestones. Aerospace within the EU provides more than 500,000 jobs and generated a turnover of 140 billion euros in 2013[1]. EASIER will progress enabling technologies for hybrid/electric propulsion, and at the same time contribute to the creation of highly skilled and productivity aerospace job positions (1,150 jobs would be retained or created in the UK, similar number in Germany and France[2]).

      Synergies among partners

The supply chain is well represented in the consortium as shown in the table below. Tier 2 suppliers (i.e., component manufacturers) will be involved after the project as a part of the industrialization preparing commercial exploitation.

[1] Eurostat: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-datasets/-/tsdpc320

[2] Power Electronics: A strategy for success, Dept. of Business and Innovation, Oct. 2011.