Date of Award

Spring 5-2017

Access Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering

Department

Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair

Richard P. Anderson

First Committee Member

Maj Mirmirani

Second Committee Member

Snorri Gudmundsson

Third Committee Member

Glenn Greiner

Abstract

The design space and flight envelope of a battery centric serial hybrid aircraft has been analytically derived. The formulation assumes cruising flight only and all energy available is used. The flight envelope can be generated for any conventional propeller driven serial hybrid aircraft. The advantageous combination of an electric motor and controllable-pitch electric propeller was also explored. The results are used to be able to control efficiency and noise at constant thrust and therefore constant airspeed. Manufacturer provided electric motor and propeller data is used for efficiency purposes. Since the electric motor is virtually silent compared to the propeller, published noise evaluation methods are used to estimate the noise footprint of the propeller.

Serial hybrid aircraft are appealing for their expansion of the flight envelope compared to fully electric aircraft and for their potential to operate where gasoline engines alone cannot. A serial hybrid configuration also allows for a controlled efficiency output and noise footprint to be able to either reduce emissions and cost or mitigate noise over noise sensitive areas. While a fully electric aircraft can achieve the efficiency and noise solutions, the serial hybrid solution offers considerably better range and endurance, making it viable for longer haul flights at higher airspeeds.

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