First-order digital twin simulation of a hybrid-electric regional transport aircraft

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Electric-hybrid flight has the potential to drastically reduce fuel consumption and emissions of aircrafts, as well**as enabling completely new markets. Parallel hybrid architectures could reduce fuel consumption while using**existing airframes by downsizing the turbine and providing the additional power required during transients with**batteries. Series hybrid, combined with new airframes, opens even greater opportunities by allowing large**differences between take-off power and cruise power without losses in efficiencies experienced in conventional**systems due to poor off-design gas turbine performance.**Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC) is currently exploring the emerging electric-hybrid aircraft market to identify**the opportunities for performance improvements, with a focus on series hybrid architecture. While there is a**considerable "hype" around electric and electric-hybrid aircrafts, there is limited scientific literature and**reliable data on the actual achievable performance. Most of the studies rely on futuristic values for battery**energy density (up to 4 times that of current state-of-the-art battery technology) and manufacturers claim**optimistic transient power rating of electric motors.**PWC has approached Createk Design Lab at Université de Sherbrooke to assess the performance of series**hybrid aircrafts. Prof. Picard's team within Createk is currently developing technologies for electric-hybrid**aircrafts - including a ceramic microturbine, a high-speed electric generator and low-drag ducted fans - as well**as models to evaluate the benefits of these technologies on the aircraft mission. Building on this experience,**Prof. Picard will carry this ENGAGE project to compare the actual performance of an electric-hybrid aircraft to**ideal performance predictions using a first-order digital twin model to simulate a regional transport mission.