CO2-free air transport for short ranges (CARAT)

Research Project, 2021 – 2022

The CARAT project will coordinate data from several research projects to perform mission analysis and trade studies for electric aircraft. The project will advance the state-of-the art for electric aircraft research with respect to:

·         how uncertainties in operational aspects and uncertainties in technology influence electric aircraft usage. Relate mission performance to uncertainty in operational power reserves, head wind variation, aircraft-to-aircraft variation, driveline deterioration, local temperature, non-optimal mission profiles

·         how technological advances in batteries/fuel cells improve system-level aircraft performance such as range, speed and energy use. In particular, to investigate how hybrid supercapacitors may augment take-off power (“electric afterburner”)

·         translate mission requirements into driveline requirements (what is needed to achieve a certain aircraft capability)

The project is a collaboration between physics (materials physics) and M2 (turbomachinery & aero-acoustics), supported by advice on use cases from the ELISE 2 project (Mauritz Andersson). Data from running projects on competing CO2-free solutions will be coordinated with on-going projects to estimate operating cost benefits for electric aircraft.