Lightweight Innovative Generator for Future Air Transportation

Project Information

LIFT

Grant agreement ID: 821399

DOI

10.3030/821399

Project closed

EC signature date 11 October 2018

Start date 1 November 2018

End date 31 October 2021

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 599 870,00

EU contribution

€ 599 870,00

Coordinated by

THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - LIFT (Lightweight Innovative Generator for Future Air Transportation )

Reporting period: 2019-11-01 to 2021-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The aerospace industry made global commitments to take action that will see carbon neutral growth from 2020 and a net reduction in CO2 emissions of 50% by 2050 compared to 2005 levels. Hybrid-electric propulsion configurations or indeed fully-electric aircraft architectures are the next phase in achieving a step-change in emissions reduction and fuel efficiency improvements, and are often heralded as the dawn of the third phase in civil aviation history. The successful realization of such architectures is heavily dependent on achieving electrical machines with a power density which is an order of magnitude higher than the machines in existing production (over twice the power density of current series-production automotive machines for example). The aim of LIFT is to develop innovative, lightweight, multifunctional solutions for the inactive parts of a high power electrical machine to be used within future hybrid-electric aircraft architectures. The overall target machine power density (i.e. >10 kW/kg) is a step change from the current state of the art, and is targeted to be achieved through the optimized use of high-strength lightweight materials, coatings, and innovative thermal management. Importantly, through the demonstrated results and achievements within this project, the case for the next generation, cleaner hybrid-electric and electric aircraft will become increasingly stronger and help in accelerating the wider technology realization.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

To bring it well within the limits of available 3D printing technology, the original MW-class specification shared by the topic manager was downscaled volumetrically by a ratio of 10:1, and a corresponding 300kW, 8kW/kg electrical machine has been designed using conventional materials for the inactive parts. To reduce the proportion of the non-active components (which is around 50% with conventional materials), different lightweight materials have been investigated and various structures were evaluated as potential candidates for the heaviest passive components. Meanwhile, the manufacturing options for the prototype have been reviewed, including standard approaches and additive manufacturing approaches. The limits of the various manufacturing processes involved have been understood via the visits to companies, which are ensuring that the ongoing designs are realizable both in terms of overall size, as well as in terms of specific geometric features. Preliminary thermo-mechanical design of the inactive parts and electromagnetic optimization has been conducted, including the proposed novel thermal management topology. Samples of lightweighted geometries are currently being manufactured to conduct tension/torsion/bending/shear tests as per ASTM standards. For thermal testing of lightweight material samples, the in-house rig for measuring the thermal conductivity has been updated to accommodate the samples which will be used within the LIFT project. The LIFT Machine has been successfully built and tested in the UNOTT labs and has performed to specification.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

LIFT has delivered a beyond state of the art solution for lightweight non-active components scalable for a MW range electrical machine proposed within Clean Sky 2 Large Passenger Aircraft IADP work package 1.6.1. The results comprise a number of innovations based upon lightweight materials and structures for the non-active part of the electrical machine. Each of these innovations will have a route to exploitation on their own merits as part of developments that UNOTT is involved in through its usual research and innovation activities. The new knowledge is applicable to a number of initiatives that UNOTT is already on to achieve fully electric propulsion technologies that are competitive to internal combustion engines. The project’s results are disseminated as per the dissemination and communication activities through publications in leading international conferences/workshops focused on industry – university collaboration and exchange of information. Specific results of the project include, the development of a machine with a record power density of >10kW/kg, 2 conference publications and 2 patent submissions are currently in process. Communication activities were limited to the restrictions imposed by Covid-19.

LIFT Machine