Primary research electric propulsion has the potential to ultimately reduce fuel burn and CO2 emissions up to 20 or more compared to the current state of the art for commercial aircraft. There are…

This is a $10,443,310.41 Cooperative Agreement awarded by the Shared Services Center (SSC), a federal civilian agency, to The Ohio State University (OSU) for the "Electric Propulsion: Challenges and Opportunities" major program. The award supports research to address key technical challenges in electric propulsion systems for commercial aircraft, including advancements in electrical technologies, aircraft systems, and research infrastructure. OSU has assembled a team of researchers from several universities and General Electric Aviation to collaborate on this initiative. The project aims to ultimately reduce aircraft fuel burn and carbon emissions by up to 20% compared to current technology. This award does not have a set-aside designation and is scheduled for completion by December 30, 2023.

Primary research electric propulsion has the potential to ultimately reduce fuel burn and CO2 emissions up to 20 or more compared to the current state of the art for commercial aircraft. There are however, 3 key technical challenges to be addressed 1. Electrical technologies the state of the art of electric technologies for motors, generators, inverters, power distribution and circuit protection will need to advance to enable electric propulsion concepts for commercial aircraft. 2. Aircraft systems electric aircraft propulsion systems present a number of challenges related to aircraft systems thermal management systems that more structurally and aerodynamic efficient configurations will need to address 3. Research infrastructure for electric technologies the research and development of large megawatt class machines is hampered by the lack of development testing facilities. To address these challenges, the ohio center for propulsion and power has assembled a first class team. A. Electric technologies the center for high performance power electronics at the ohio state university will team with the university of wisconsin to address the innovation of core technologies required for 1-5 MW electric systems, motors, generators, inverters, power distribution and circuit protection in aircraft. B. Battery and energy storage needs innovative efforts, will be led by case western reserve. She will be joined by the director of the center for automotive research at the ohio state university. He will bring his intrinsic knowledge of battery development in the automotive industry. C. Thermal management: this essential effort will be led by the university of maryland in cooperation with north carolina a & t state university. D. Integration and system studiesgeorgia tech will lead this effort in collaboration with as we want to bring the hybrid system experience of the automotive industry into the airplane system optimization. E. Research infrastructure NASA glenn research center is in the process of building the NASA electric aircraft testbed (neat) facility at their plumbrook location to evaluate high power electric systems in a simulated aircraft environment. The team (the universities and GE) will be working with NASA to define the requirements and the testing plan for this facility. IT is planned also to test machines developed on this project at the neat facility. F. General electric aviation and general electric global research GE will participate and provide guidance on requirements as well as projected applications throughout the program. The aviation group will be also part of the system integration team.