Conference Program

Track 1 The Path to Net Zero
09:00 - 11:00

European electric and hybrid aviation towards climate neutrality by 2050

Dr Michael Kyriakopoulos
Senior Expert - EU Aviation Research Policy
European Commission
Belgium
A review of the EU aviation research landscape on electric and hybrid aviation towards climate neutrality by 2050.

Creating new capabilities for net zero commercial aircraft

Mark Scully
Head of Technology - Advanced Systems & Propulsion
Aerospace Technology Institute
UK
The ATI has published the UK Aerospace Technology Strategy, Destination Zero, which describes the path to net zero commercial aircraft by 2050. This presentation will explore new capabilities which are in development in the ATI portfolio of R&T projects and thereby grow the aerospace sector's strengths to realise the 2050 target. The role of both ultra-efficient and zero-carbon propulsion systems technologies will be explored together with complementary advances in aircraft systems to support the future market.

DEP trade-off study for a regional aircraft preliminary design

Diego Giuseppe Romano
Fluid Mechanics Researcher
CIRA - Italian Aerospace Research Centre
Italy
This work is devoted to the investigation of the aerodynamic effects of a DEP installation on a regional aircraft for greenhouse gas emissions reduction. In the first part, a finite span section of the wing is considered with periodic boundary conditions by means of RANS approach. The second part of the paper is devoted to trade-off studies on a complete wing by means of a combination of high-order and low-order approaches. The final objective is to identify a simplified procedure to support preliminary design. Experimental test campaign is on-going in order to assess the numerical results.

Aviation’s roadmap to true zero

Nikhil Sachdeva
Senior Manager and Lead for Sustainable Aviation
Roland Berger Ltd
UK
Aviation’s global share of CO2 emissions is expected to increase over time given the relative maturity of decarbonisation solutions across other industries, and the footprint of its non-CO2 effects such as contrails and NOx can be as much as 2-4x compared to CO2 alone. The Roland Berger Roadmap to True Zero for the global aviation sector focuses on six key levers for potential mitigation strategies, building on analysis of a broad range of potential outlooks, assumptions and emission sensitivities to develop five scenarios, each with a focus to bring aviation’s total climate impact down to True Zero, including both CO2 and non-CO2 effects

Accelerating sustainable innovation in aviation with the MBSE approach

Lisa Belkhichane
A&D Industry Value Expert
Dassault Systèmes
France
The aviation industry has been facing for decades the challenge of reducing its carbon footprint and made significant progress in fuel efficiency. Today, the global air transport industry is committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. To go even further in the reduction of aircraft emissions, the principal focus is now on new technologies such as electric aircraft and new fuels such as hydrogen. But while progress is being made, these disruptive solutions still face some challenges with respect to their overall impact on the environment. To address a truly end-to-end sustainable system, companies should approach the system-of-systems perspective

Smart SAF

Juan Miguel Gonzalez
Operational manager
CITD engineering and technology
Spain
Carbon emissions are just one side of the climate impact of aviation. Non-CO2 effects are around 2/3 of the total effect, 85% of them linked to aeroplane contrails. Different solutions are being studied such as sustainable fuels (SAF), the reduction of aromatics, modification of the routes to avoid specific areas and avoiding the formation of condensation trails by flying at lower altitudes. CITD Smart SAF system is targeting as well a new solution to the Non-CO2 effects where IA will be used for condensation trails prediction based not only on atmospheric data but also adding onboard aeroplane data analyses.

Break

Track 1 Electric Propulsion Technologies
11:30 - 12:30

Liquid hydrogen cooling of electric propulsion system

Dr Temoc Rodriguez
Chief Engineer - Electric Propulsion Systems
Ricardo Plc
UK
Liquid hydrogen fuel cells are earmarked as one of the solutions to decarbonise long haul transport including aviation. Liquid hydrogen can be used to reject the heat generated by losses in the electric powertrain. To achieve this, the liquid hydrogen is first circulated through the cold plate of the propulsion inverter and then through the cooling jacket of the electric machine. The outgoing hydrogen is then fed to the fuel cell system. This results in a simpler, lighter, and more efficient system. The design of the inverter cold plate and the electric machine cooling jacket and their operation are presented.

Efficient high integrity winding technologies for electric propulsion machines

Phil Mellor
Professor of Electrical Engineering
University of Bristol
UK
Electrical machines for future aircraft propulsion will need to push the boundaries in power density without compromising reliability. Against sector technology roadmaps there are still significant improvements required and the desired power to weight, efficiency and integrity will not be achieved through incremental developments. This presentation will explore the potential of rethinking how we manufacture and design high performance electrical machine windings. Examples of recent developments will be given covering metal additive manufacturing, high integrity insulation systems, application of probabilistic design principles to the prediction of winding failure, and the use of composite materials to realise an air-gap winding stator.

EcoPulse™ - a distributed electric propulsion demonstrator

William Llobregt
New Energies & Concepts - Propulsion Engineering - Airbus
Airbus SAS
France
Exploring and pushing forward technological bricks on Distributed Electric Propulsion, that is the goal of the flight demonstrator EcopulseTM. This collaborative project is undertaken with Airbus, Daher, Safran, with the support of France’s Civil Aviation Research Council (CORAC) and French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC), to enable our future aircraft to further support decarbonisation. Airbus is involved in the development of a high-energy-density battery, aerodynamic and acoustic integration and the development of a Flight Control computer system. Some key objectives are to contribute to new-energy learnings, to identify appropriate methods and associated simulation models, and to evaluate aerodynamic and acoustic gains.

Lunch

Track 1 Certification and Standardization
13:50 - 14:50

Certification of propulsion batteries as key enabler for electric and hybrid

Carlos Javier Munoz Garcia
New Electrical Technologies Expert
European Aviation Safety Agency
Germany
One of the key enablers for Electric Aircrafts are the Propulsion Batteries. As with any relatively new technology there is limited experience of its use as energy storage device in Electric/Hybrid aerial vehicles. Lithium Batteries have specific failures, operational and maintenance characteristics that differ from conventional batteries currently covered by Aviation Certification Normative. Therefore new appropriate certification materials and qualification standards has been established to ensure that these battery installations do not have hazardous or unreliable design characteristics. The presentation will give an overview of the certification materials and qualification standards used in the certification of Propulsion Batteries.

Standardising aircraft charging matters, but how do we get there?

Richard Watson
Charger Product Manager
Electro.Aero
Australia
Electric vehicles around the world are charged by different couplers and sometimes each country may feature several competing standards. It is vital that electric aviation avoids this mess through global standardisation. Harmonisation will lead to accelerated uptake of AAM, safer flying, simpler infrastructure roll out and above all safer flying. The question is, how do we compromise around the best solution for aviation without hampering the fast-paced development of an exciting and innovative new industry?

Certification of electric hybrid aircraft – field experience

Frank Kaiser
Senior Certification Consultant
ADSE Consulting and Engineering
Netherlands
Driven by the need for sustainable aviation as well as technical possibilities numerous initiatives are ongoing to develop and certify electric or electric/hybrid aircraft, such as VTOL, hydrogen/electric, SAF/electric. Authorities and industry work together to develop Certification Specifications and Special Conditions. Safety principles are generally understood, however how to design new aircraft to support safety requirements and how to show compliance is still novel territory. Additional challenges are posed by start-up organizations and investor interests. This presentation addresses some of the recent field experience working in airworthiness office roles and industry standardization working groups and the hurdles still ahead.

Break

Track 1 Developments in eVTOL
15:20 - 17:00

Battery diagnosis system for eVTOL aircraft battery module

Dr Anup Barai
Associate Professor
WMG, University of Warwick
UK
The battery safety diagnostic system implemented by automotive BMS is perceived to be the best in class. This is due to the high volume, which enables exploitation of the latest technology and commercial advantages. Yet, the diagnostic and prognostic capabilities implemented are limited. For electric aircraft, the fundamental premise of safety, plus the need to monitor, identify and isolate or mitigate battery failure is different. However, the tightly regulated aircraft usage case opens a few novel approaches to realise a comprehensive diagnostic and prognostic system. At WMG, in collaboration with aerospace OEMs, we developed a battery functional safety diagnostic system.

Application of the Coanda effect to eVTOL design

William Tahil
Research Director
Meridian International Research
France
Research into the Coanda effect or fluid entrainment has been ongoing for 100 years. Fascinating results in aerodynamic and hydrodynamic performance have been achieved with the most notable application being the rotorless helicopter tail control system, NOTAR. Adoption of the technology by the legacy aerospace industry has been slow; therefore Coanda technology presents an opportunity for the new generation to significantly improve the marginal performance of eVTOL aircraft using fluid flow entrainment design principles. This presentation presents a review of the most significant research results that have been published and potential design improvements and benefits for future eVTOL aircraft.

Electrified aerospace propulsion needs a system level engineering approach

Jordan Craven
Senior Engineer
Drive System Design
UK
Certification often makes design iterations prohibitively slow, with spiralling costs and time to market a major challenge. Engineering at a system level is crucial to avoid non-optimised eVTOL propulsion and aircraft designs. This extends beyond motor, transmission and inverter, to propellor geometry and aircraft structures. A process to develop systems concurrently and assess system architectures, electric motor/inverter technologies and propellor designs is presented. Simulation tools enable the assessment of key parameters including power density, efficiency, redundancy, and sustainability for 1000’s of options, identifying potential non-intuitive solutions. This allows for quick data-driven decision-making, enabling the future of aircraft propulsion systems.

An investigation of eVTOL aircraft configuration

Zhiheng Lou
Technical Lead and Project Manager
IET Limited
UK
Driven by the demand for sustainable aviation, eVTOLs have gained significant public interest and investments. Unlike conventional aircraft designs, there is an abundance of eVTOL concepts that are differentiated by their aircraft configuration. Previous studies of eVTOL concepts involve making assumptions for the electric propulsion system. Consequently, valuable insights into the sensitivities of aircraft performance to component selection are lost. However, these insights are critical to the eVTOL’s success. Therefore, this study sought answers to: 1) How many rotors should an eVTOL have? 2) How many rotors should be vectored? 3) What is the eVTOL's range for different mission scenarios?

Track 2 Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology
09:00 - 11:00

Emission-free, electric flight with hydrogen

Prof Josef Kallo
CEO
H2FLY
Germany
Gliding through the air with zero emissions and low noise? Is this what the future of air travel looks like? How close is this future? Prof. Dr. Josef Kallo, founder and CEO of H2FLY, gives an insight into current developments, challenges and prospects for hydrogen-electric powered aircraft.

Thermal management: don't let low grade heat drag you down

James Colley
Product Developement Lead, Net Zero Aero Systems
Reaction Engines
UK
Historically, gas turbines reject the majority of their waste heat with their exhaust. Electric aircraft do not have this luxury and yet thermal management is historically considered late in the design process. A key driver of airframe efficiency, a systems approach to thermal management is needed with novel technology pushing the bounds of what can be achieved. Reaction Engines’ expertise and game-changing microtube heat exchangers represent enabling technology for zero-emissions aviation. Through case studies, such as Project NEWBORN, Reaction Engines examines the development of these solutions to combat the real thermal management challenges that the industry is facing.

Design process of a fully scalable fuel cell electric aircraft propulsion system for the GKN H2Gear Project

Dr Peter Malkin
Strategic Research Advisor
Newcastle University
UK
The use of a Fuel Cell System fuelled by hydrogen gives opportunities to design a totally novel electric power system. Some of this arises from the use of liquid hydrogen as a cryogenic coolant source. The results provide significant advantages over conventional systems through the use of radical approaches. These advantages include gains in power density, scalability to large aircraft and advanced and effective protection schemes and will be described in the presentation.

Challenges of hydrogen-fuel-cell-powertrains for aircraft applications

Dr Christoph Gentner
Scientist
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Germany
This presentation provides an overview of the integration of hydrogen fuel cell powertrains in aviation. The focus is on the assessment of suitable aircraft types and the anatomy of the energy system. In addition, the presentation delves into the critical aspects of sizing aircraft fuel cell systems. The interplay between the hydrogen fuel cell energy system and the aircraft is also discussed. Finally, the presentation covers the use of liquid- or air-cooled fuel cell stacks, the function of air compressors, strategies for cold start, and measures to maintain optimal membrane humidity conditions.

Test facilities for liquid hydrogen research at the Royal Netherlands

Roel van Benthem
Senior R&D Engineer
Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre
Netherlands
The Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) acquired significant participation in EU Clean Aviation and Clean Hydrogen projects as well as in national programs. An overview of the progress made and the development of new test facilities, will be presented. This ranges from drone flights with hydrogen propulsion, both gaseous and liquid, the development of a hydrogen range extender for NLRs research aircraft, material test capabilities at cryogenic temperatures and the development of a new ground facility for testing of fuel cell powertrains and liquid hydrogen storage tanks for future aircraft

Powertrain architectures for hydrogen & electric aircraft

Mark Husband
Electrical Systems Lead
GKN Aerospace
UK
Fuel cell power systems (FCPS) offer the potential to reinvent Power Generation Systems (PGS) and Propulsion Systems beyond what is possible with state of the art aircraft. This presentation will introduce the flexibility and complexity of today’s aircraft power systems as well as the potential new paradigm in simplicity afforded by fuel cell hybrids when applied to cryogenic and conventional fuel cell power systems.

Break

Track 2 Energy Carriers and Power Plants
11:30 - 12:30

200-kW hydrogen fuel cell power plant development and flight test status

Dr Anita Sengupta
CEO/founder
Hydroplane Ltd
USA
Hydroplane is developing a modular 200-kW hydrogen fuel cell powerplant to provide electric propulsion and hydrogen storage for single engine aircraft, rotorcraft, and eVTOL platforms. The system is based on a high specific energy and volume modular stack, with light weight bipolar plates and high durability membrane technology. The balance of the plant includes a lightweight air compressor and liquid hydrogen feed system. We will present on the development status including ground testing, certification, and flight test results and findings. Hydroplane is a two time winner of the Agility Prime Program, as well as the California Energy Commission Caltestbed Program, to further its innovative energy storage technology development and certification.

Sodium borohydride as energy carrier for aviation

Alte de Boer
Senior R&D Engineer Aircraft Electric Technologies
Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR)
Netherlands
Is sodium borohydride (SBH) a feasible carrier of hydrogen on board aircraft? Can it be considered an alternative to liquid and gaseous hydrogen storage methods? There are potential advantages of applying SBH: storage takes place under atmospheric conditions in a powder (or dissolved in water) and hydrogen release, does not need additional thermal energy. We present the results of a first feasibility study on the application of SBH in aviation. Multiple SBH fuel variants - with different amounts of water and with corresponding fuel processing architectures - were analyzed and simulated in the context of a regional aircraft mission.

High performance hybrid-electric applications

Eric Bartsch
CEO
VerdeGo Aero
USA
Much of the focus on hybridization has been on achieving high efficiency. This is a very valid design space but it isn't the whole picture when it comes to applications of hybrid-electric propulsion. VerdeGo Aero has also been developing hybrid powerplants for very high performance missions and aircraft. These powerplants share some attributes with other hybrids but also have novel aspects that are particularly interesting for very high speed VTOL missions. The combination of both high-efficiency and high-performance applications for hybrid technologies will accelerate the maturity of the next generation of powerplants.

Lunch

Track 2 Improving Power Density, Weight and Efficiency
13:30 - 15:10

Evaluation of technology gravimetric indexes for zero emissions regional flight

Artem Kolisnichenko
Research Fellow - Electrification Research Unit
Leonardo Aircraft
Italy
Regional market segment is considered to be a key entry point for zero emissions flight. In this session, Artem will present a methodology based on a mission flight analysis capable to evaluate the requirements in terms of power-to-weight and energy-to-weight gravimetric indexes for battery-electric and hydrogen-electric propulsion architectures. Results will include a retrofit of a conventional tube-and-wing regional aircraft, in which turboprops are replaced with a novel powertrain and its relative energy carrier to simulate a design and typical missions including the alternate destination and loiter phases.

Insulation materials on aluminium conductors provide solutions for aerospace challenges

Dr David Simkin
Head of the DER Winding Centre of Excellence
University of Warwick
UK
The increasing voltages used in aerospace and the altitude challenges create a need to provide innovation in insulation materials to reduce the insulation damage due to partial discharge. The light weight of aluminium and its higher resistance to high frequency eddy current compared with copper opens opportunities for use in aerospace. The presentation will report results on the oxide coating of aluminium and compare this coating with results from enamel and PEEK coated aluminium wires. The discussion will be made on the effect of the insulation properties on the thickness and the degradation of the coatings in operational conditions. Thermal properties will be reported.

Power electronics as enablers for fail-operational high-voltage drivetrain architectures

Florian Hilpert
Head of Aviation Electronics
Fraunhofer IISB
Germany
Power electronics enable to link electric power busses of different voltage forms and levels like single/multiphase AC and DC lines. The necessary AC/DC and DC/DC converter systems have increased lately in system power density through wide band gap semiconductor devices, resulting in advantages on system integration and efficiency. Modular internal designs allow for fail-operational high-voltage drivetrain architectures, addressing future MW-class drivetrain architectures.

Inverter emulator as test system for aerospace electric power systems

Gernot Pammer
Business Development Manager Power Electronic Test Systems
AVL List GmbH
Austria
This publication shows a novel method to use Power Hardware-in-the-Loop (PHIL) based inverter emulator (PHIL-IE) as an efficient test tool along the product life cycle. In early R&D phases, it can be used as a highly efficient rapid prototyping tool to shorten R&D cycles and test a future converter system under real-life conditions. In later states, the same PHIL-IE by using different HIL-based application models is used for single component tests. In iron birds the novel test method can be perfectly combined with HIL-based digital twin emulations and reduce test costs and time significantly.

Critical package last-mile delivery - whatever the weather?

Mike Eggleston
Chief Executive Officer
CAV Systems
UK
The future of small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) or drone applications, whether the delivery of consumer goods, medical supplies, emergency response, or research instrumentation, includes missions beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) and penetration into clouds. Adverse weather conditions, particularly in-flight icing, will be a significant hurdle to overcome. Therefore, reducing ice accretion using an ice protection system is critical. Equally, any system must not impact on its ability to carry a payload effectively. This presentation focuses on research and system development carried out by CAV Systems to address these issues and provide an effective, low-powered ice protection scalable solution.

Break

Track 2 Synergies between Aviation and other Industries
15:40 - 17:00

Development and manufacturing roadmaps for high performance electrical machines

Prof Chris Gerada
Professor of Electrical Machines
University of Nottingham
UK
Innovative technologies and manufacturing processes are key in developing propulsion drivetrains which can meet the demanding requirements for more-electric flight. The presentation will cover roadmaps of key enabling technologies and manufacturing processes to enable wider adoption of electrified drivetrains. Cross-sectorial learnings from automotive and other industries will be brought to bear. A number of case studies of technology demonstrators will be presented to highlight how innovative roadmaps can impact key performance metrics.

Proven automotive-based solutions (products and services) as enablers for sustainable aerospace

Christian Grim
General Manager
Bosch General Aviation Technology GmbH
Austria
Zero emission mobility as a common goal across industries - whether on the road, in the air or in space - motivates us to develop advanced automotive-based solutions for the future of mobility. We believe that it is key to utilize synergies across these industries to speed up and enable the technological transition. We will present preliminary research results of our H2 activities. We will focus on the benefits, potentials and hurdles for future aerospace solutions based on our experience in different product areas and projects such as fuel cell peripheral components, automotive-based high precise microelectronics, advanced adhesive manufacturing processes and advanced electronic manufacturing solutions.

Product and manufacturing aspects for high-efficient electric propulsion components using wave winding technology

Dr Peter Glöckner
Director, Product Development
Schaeffler Aerospace Germany
Germany
Dr Florian Sell-Le Blanc
Manager Advanced E-Motor Technologies
Schaeffler Automotive Buehl GmbH & Co. KG
Germany
Based on current and future market requirements, Schaeffler will present the latest technology trends in terms of product design and manufacturing technologies for electric machine components. The transfer of automotive manufacturing technologies into aerospace applications is presented by electric motor product technology such as the wave winding technology and cost-efficient motor manufacturing technologies. Moreover, it is presented that the mechanical components of electric machines play an important role to achieve the challenging power density and reliability requirements.

Crossing the gap to aerospace for hydrogen flight

Jonathan Brown
Strategy Director
Hypermotive
UK
Some of the greatest challenges in developing future hydrogen propulsion systems lie in the ‘invisible’ art of integration. Matching, optimising and ensuring seamless control and communication of sub-systems in an efficient and safe manner is critical. The engineering effort is immense to get a product powered by hydrogen to market. To do this in aerospace the challenge is further multiplied. What can we learn from other sectors to simplify and reduce the cost of future hydrogen propulsion systems in aerospace? This talk will review challenges and look at how innovation and lessons in integration from other sectors create new possibilities for aerospace.