Transient Nature of Flight and Its Impact on Thermal Management for All Electric Aircraft

Abstract

High power electronics are a key component in the electrification of aircraft. Large amounts of power need to be handled onboard to generate sufficient lift for flight. The transient nature of the aircraft's mission profile produces varied loading and environmental influences, making consistent cooling and device reliability difficult to maintain. Due to limitations in weight and performance metrics, the thermal management capability becomes a key inhibiting factor in preventing adoption of all electric aircraft. Many efforts are focused on the improvement of high-powered electronics such as the inverters, batteries, and motors, but there is a need for increased focus on the implications of each improved device on the total system with regards to thermal management. To address the many concerns for thermal management within aviation, this paper will review the prevalent factors of flight and couple them to their respective challenges to highlight the overarching effort needed to successfully integrate efficient electric propulsion devices with their protective thermal management systems. A review will be combined with a brief analytical study over inverter cooling to examine the effects of various transient parameters on the device temperature of an inverter in flight. The impact of failure in the cooling systems on the shutdown process will also be examined. Both studies are tied to the motivation for examining the impacts of new and transient challenges faced by electric power systems and help signify the importance of this focus as these systems become more present and capable within the aviation industry.