Electric Propulsion System for Exceptionally Short Takeoff and Landing Electric Air Vehicles
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abstract
Over the past few years, electric propulsion systems have been widely used in automotive applications. The next decade is likely to see the electrification of aerial vehicles. In the past 20 years, the passengers demand in the aviation industry has increased by roughly 5% annually. Drastic increment in the passengers demand leads to many problems such as emission, noise pollution, airports capacity shortage, and high fuel consumption. An electric airplane that can take off and land in an extremely short runway can solve all the mentioned problems. Also, an airplane that is smaller and lighter with the ability to take off and land from an extremely short runway can be used as a new transportation system in congested cities and solve the urban road traffic and compensate for people’s time wasted in traffic. With this in mind, in this thesis, the feasibility of converting a conventional fixed-wing direct-drive propeller airplane to an electric extremely short takeoff and landing airplane has been examined. An overview of the history of electric aerial vehicles and flying cars is conducted where some of these vehicles are still under development phase. The main aim of this thesis is to address the effect of takeoff and landing runway length on the electric motor main specifications, including power, torque, and speed. Also, the effect of cruising speed on the motor specifications are investigated, and it is observed that there is a considerable difference between the amount of required power for the cruising mode and takeoff mode. In the end, the impact of the braking system and airplane weight on the landing distance are examined, and It is found that for an airplane with a cruise-efficient propeller, usage of thrust reverser is not practical and hence it is not recommended. Although if the propeller is designed to have high efficiency at takeoff and landing, the thrust reverser can be a good solution to make the landing runway shorter.
