Electric Wheel Hub Motor for Aircraft Application

Kurzfassung

The German Aerospace Centre has dealt with the question of whether it is possible to tax a passenger aircraft without emissions on the taxiing field. The Institute of Vehicle Concepts has designed and built a prototype of an electric wheel hub motor to use it in the research aircraft Airbus A320 of the German Aerospace Centre. Special requirements to the motor are the torque for break away operation, the static load and the possibility to switch two gear ratios. The project was a part of an overall research project for the integration of fuel cells in aircrafts to reduce fuel consumption and air pollution. A positive side effect is the reduction of the ground-based transport vehicles traffic and thus a reduction in the risk of accidents. The paper describes the development of the electric wheel hub motor.