Overall design and technology integration for a 9-seater hydrogen-electric commuter aircraft concept

Abstract

New propulsion technologies not only allow reducing the climate effect of aircraft, but also enable new architectures and integration options. To make use of this increased design space variety, new design methods need to be developed. In this work, an existing design process for CS-23 hydrogen-electric aircraft is expanded with the capability to select various different powertrain options. Based on the propulsion system layout, each component is sized and its efficiency and cooling demand estimated for the entire operating envelope. The overall powertrain performance is fed back to size the fuel cell system and simulate mission performance. These methods are used to evaluate the designs of two different concepts with centralized and distributed FC systems, respectively. The results show, that the overall mass and performance of both concepts is very similar. However, the concept with distributed FC systems has a lower energy consumption, better FC cooling, and improved maintainability. Thus, the distributed concept is chosen.