IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - March 2018 - 62

Prof. Chris Gerada of the UniverPowerPoint presentation, and the
sity of Nottingham, England, prefloor was opened for discussion after
sented three interesting possibilities
each presenter. This process took up
for the future use of electric power
most of the allotted time. Interaction
on aircraft, including direct wheel
among the panel members was not a
drive for electric taxi, actuators for
dominant part of the process. Panelprimary flight controls, and a highists at these special sessions were
speed starter generator, capable of
invited to participate without the ne32,000 r/min. This work is reportedly
cessity or expectation that they prosupported by a six-year, multimillionvide a publishable paper.
dollar-per-year internal funding source.
The first presenter was Mike Blair
Aviation-oriented special ses sions
of GE Aviation. He talked at some
continued with "IOT
length about the Boeand Twin for Aviaing 777X, under deThe seat miles flown
t io n ," c h a i r e d by
velopment now with
Syed Hossain, which
a target for commercontinues to increase
I did not attend, and
cial service in 2019.
at a rate that
proceeded with "AdDr. Huang had menoverbalances the fact
vanced Aircraft Electioned this developthat newer aircraft
trification beyond
ment, but Blair proentering the fleet
MEA," with panelvided substantially
burn less fuel per
ists Konrad Weeber
more detail. This airand Di Zhang of GE,
craft, while derived
seat mile.
Patrick Wheeler of
from earlier 777s, rept he Un i v e r s it y of
resents a substantial
Nottingham, and Charles Lents of
advance. It will be powered by a newly
United Technology.
developed GE turbofan engine, the
The introduction of the "Aircraft
GE9X, which will provide a 10% lower
Electrification" session repeated the
fuel burn. This aircraft will not follow
theme of the important milestones in
the 787 in the use of electrical power
aviation, i.e., the Wright brothers' first
for climate control. To be certificated
flight, the first turbojet, and the elecfor extended overwater operations
tric aircraft of the future. Somehow,
(far from a usable runway), it is required
this seems disrespectful of the invento have three or four independent
tion of the turbofan and the decades
sources of electrical power.
of progress that have been made and
Kev in Yost gave a summa r y of
still continue to be made in the direcrecent and ongoing work at the Air
tion of higher and higher bypass
Force Research Laboratory in Dayratios and better and better fluid meton, Ohio, much of which was on elecchanics and materials internal to the
tric machine work. I found it interestengines that make commercial aviaing, but not inappropriate, that the
tion as affordable and widespread as
presenter cited a textbook published
it is today.
in 1940 as a source.
The quality of the presentations at
Prof. Jin Wang of Ohio State Unithe "Aircraft Electrification" session
versity, Columbus, presented progress
were mixed. The first presenter, from
related to hybrid aircraft propulsion,
a major aviation company, presented
with emphasis on system-level chalthe results of one particular NASAlenges. This was supported by a large
funded project. The information proNASA grant and, generally, was convided was probably all publicly availsistent with Dr. Madavan's keynote
able, and the presenter offered no
presentation. The work discussed a
generalization or vision.
power electronics goal (presumably
The second presenter was Prof.
for an inverter) of 25 kW/kg. ChalPat Wheeler of the University of Notlenges related to the battery presumtingham, England. He provided a soably required for the proposed system
ber, well-reasoned discussion of the
were not a major feature of this talk.

IEEE PowEr ElEctronIcs MagazInE

z March 2018

obstacles in the path of the vision of an
all-electric aircraft. One chart showed
a clear status of the state of the art today. The Solar Impulse, which is powered by on-board solar cells, is capable
of going halfway around the world, but
it takes 30 days and does not carry a
payload. The battery-electric Airbus
two-seater can accommodate two
pilots, or one pilot and one passenger,
but it is limited to 20 min of flight per
charge cycle.
Prof. Wheeler did show some very
advanced components , most of which
were also mentioned by Prof. Gerada
in a previous session. His position
on all-electric aircraft was that it is
not possible today but can eventually
be accomplished "if we can address
all issues." From the balance of his
presentation, he would consider a
fuel-cell solution to be an all-electric aircraft.
The final presenter was Chuck
Lents of the United Technologies Research Center, Hartford, Connecticut.
His presentation was also limited to
the findings of one particular NASAfunded study performed at his company. This pr e s e nt a t io n was clear
and logical, and it distinctly showed
how to define the requirements for future airliners so that they will be able
to serve an important economic market segment.
Overall, the organizer's big idea
of concentrating the entire plenary
session and many of the technical
sessions on one topic (in this case
on electric power and aircraft) was a
success. Attendees could hear similar
subjects addressed by enough different speakers to sense where there is
consensus and where there is still
debate. One major detraction is that
once a session closed, the only record
that it left behind was in the memories
and the physical notes of the attendees. No record of any of these sessions
appeared on the memory stick, which
now comprises the proceedings of
any major conference, nor is there any
record on the Internet of what may
have been said.
The technical sessions presented
no such problem. Just after the plenary

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - March 2018