Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T20:24:48.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion for Electrified Aircraft

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2022

By
Ajay Misra
Edited by
Kiruba Haran ,
Nateri Madavan  and
Tim C. O'Connell
Kiruba Haran
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Nateri Madavan
Affiliation:
NASA Aeronautics Mission Directorate, NASA
Tim C. O'Connell
Affiliation:
P.C. Krause & Associates
Get access

Summary

The viability of electrified aircraft propulsion (EAP) architectures, from small urban air mobility vehicles to large single-aisle transport aircraft, depends almost exclusively on their energy storage requirements. Because energy storage increases with specific energy and power density, these metrics strongly influence the adoption of EAP architectures. This chapter provides an overview of electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems for EAP, including batteries, fuel cells, supercapacitors, and multifunctional structures with energy storage capability. An overview of today’s state-of-the-art battery technology and related EAP concepts is followed by a review of energy storage requirements for various classes of electrified aircraft. Recent battery technology advances are then reviewed along with their applicability and limitations for expanding the electrified aircraft market. Alternative electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems (e.g., fuel cells, flow batteries, supercapacitors, etc.) are also addressed. The chapter concludes with a review of multifunctional structures with energy storage capability and their potential application to EAP.

Keywords

electrochemical energy storagebatteryfuel cellsupercapacitormultifunctional structurespecific energypower densityflow batteryaluminum-air batterymolten materials
Type
Chapter
Information
Electrified Aircraft Propulsion
Powering the Future of Air Transportation
 , pp. 190 - 223
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

The Vertical Flight Society, Fairfax, VA, USA. “Electric VTOL news: Lilium jet.” [Online]. Available: http://evtol.news/aircraft/lilium/.Google Scholar
The Vertical Flight Society, Fairfax, VA, USA. “Electric VTOL news: Advanced VTOL demonstrators accelerate full tilt.” [Online]. Available: http://evtol.news/2018/02/26/joby-aviation-s4-evtol-tiltprop/.Google Scholar
Warwick, G., “Karem’s eVTOL shows way for Uber to meet goals,” Aviation Week and Space Technology, May 24, 2018. [Online]. Available: http://aviationweek.com/future-aerospace/karem-s-evtol-shows-way-uber-meet-goals.Google Scholar
Uber Elevate, San Francisco, CA, USA. “UberAir vehicle requirements and missions”, June 6, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://s3.amazonaws.com/uber-static/elevate/Summary+Mission+and+Requirements.pdf.Google Scholar
McDonald, R. and German, B., “eVTOL stored energy overview,” presented at the Uber Elevate Summit, Dallas, TX, 2017.Google Scholar
Brown, A. and Harris, W. L., “A vehicle design and optimization model for on-demand aviation,” presented at the Joint AIAA SciTech Forum and AIAA/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conf., Kissimmee, Florida, 2018, Paper AIAA 2018-0105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, W., Silva, C., and Solis, E., “Concept vehicles for VTOL air taxi operation,” presented at the AHS Tech. Conf. on Aeromechanics Design for Transformative Vertical Flight, San Francisco, CA, 2018.Google Scholar
Finger, D. F., Götten, F., Braun, C., and Bil, C., “Initial sizing for a family of hybrid-electric VTOL general aviation aircraft,” presented at the 67th German Aerosp. Congress (DLRK), Friedrichshafen, Germany, 2018. DOI: 10.25967/480102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duffy, M. J., Wakayama, S. R., and Hupp, R., “A study in reducing the cost of vertical flight with electric propulsion,” presented at the 17th Joint AIAA Aviation Tech., Integration, and Operations Conf. and AIAA Aviation Forum, Denver, CO, 2017, Paper AIAA 2017-3442.Google Scholar
Fredericks, W. L. Sripad, S., Bower, G. C., and Viswanathan, V., “Performance metrics required for next- generation batteries to electrify vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft,” ACS Energy Lett., vol. 3, pp. 2989–2994, 2018.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, M. D. and Fredericks, B., “Misconceptions of electric propulsion aircraft and their emergent aviation markets,” presented at the Joint 52nd AIAA Aerosp. Sci. Mtg. and SciTech Forum, National Harbor, MD, 2014, Paper AIAA 2014-0535.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bower, G., “Vahana configuration trade study: Part II.” [Online]. Available: https://acubed.airbus.com/blog/vahana/vahana-configuration-trade-study-part-ii/.Google Scholar
Rathi, A., “Uber will bring you flying taxis, if you can help build a magic battery,” Quartz, April 11, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://qz.com/1243334/the-magical-battery-uber-needs-for-its-flying-cars/.Google Scholar
Morris, C., “Eviation and Kokam announce electric aircraft battery supply deal,” Charged Electric Vehicles Magazine, February 21, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://chargedevs.com/newswire/eviation-and-kokam-announce-electric-aircraft-battery-supply-deal/.Google Scholar
Aerospace Technology, London, UK. “Zunum aero hybrid electric aircraft.” [Online]. Available: www.aerospace-technology.com/projects/zunum-aero-hybrid-electric-aircraft/.Google Scholar
Hepperle, M., “Electric flight: Potential and limitations,” presented at the Energy Efficient Tech. and Concepts of Operation Workshop,” Lisbon, Portugal, 2012, Paper STO-MP-AVT 209.Google Scholar
Fefermann, Y. et al., “Hybrid-electric motive power systems for commuter transport applications,” presented at the 30th Congr. of the Intl. Council of the Aeronautical Sci., Daejeon, Korea, 2016.Google Scholar
Marien, T. V. et al., “Short-haul revitalization study final report,” NASA, Hampton, VA, Tech. Rep. TM-2018-219833, 2018, Available: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20180004393.pdfGoogle Scholar
Antcliff, K. R. et al., “Mission analysis and aircraft sizing of a hybrid-electric regional aircraft,” presented at the 54th AIAA Aerosp. Sci. Mtg., San Diego, CA, 2016, Paper AIAA 2016-1028.Google Scholar
Antcliff, K. R. and Capristan, F. M., “Conceptual design of the parallel electric-gas architecture with synergistic utilization scheme (PEGASUS) concept,” presented at the 18th AIAA/ISSMO Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization Conf., Denver, CO, 2017, Paper AIAA 2017-4001.Google Scholar
Isikveren, A. T., Pornet, C., Vratny, P. C., and Schmidt, M., “Conceptual studies of future hybrid-electric regional aircraft,” presented at the 22nd ISABE Intl. Symp. on Air Breathing Engines, Phoenix, AZ, 2015, Paper ISABE-2015-20285.Google Scholar
Voskuijl, M., van Bogaert, J., and Rao, A. G., “Analysis and design of hybrid electric regional turboprop aircraft,” CEAS Aeronaut. J., vol. 9, pp. 15–25, 2018.Google Scholar
Pornet, C., Kaiser, S., Isikveren, A. T., and Hornung, M., “Integrated fuel-battery hybrid for a narrow-body sized transport aircraft,” Aircraft Eng. Aerosp. Techn., vol. 86, no. 6, pp. 568–574, 2014.Google Scholar
Bradley, M. K. and Droney, C. K., “Subsonic ultra green aircraft research: phase I final report,” NASA, Hampton, VA, Tech. Rep. NASA/CR 2011-216847, 2011, Available: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20150017039.pdf.Google Scholar
Ang, W. X., Rao, A., Kanakis, T., and Lammen, W., “Performance analysis of an electrically assisted propulsion system for a short-range civil aircraft,” J. Aerosp. Eng., vol. 233, no. 4, pp. 1490–1502, 2019.Google Scholar
Manthiram, A., “An outlook on lithium ion battery technology,” ACS Cent. Sci., vol. 3, no. 10, pp. 1063–1069, 2017.Google Scholar
Hertzberg, B. J., “Design of resilient silicon-carbon nanocomposite anodes,” Ph.D. thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 2011.Google Scholar
Sealy, C., “Lithium-ion batteries charge to the next level,” Materials Today, April 30, 2018. [Online]. Available: www.materialstoday.com/energy/news/lithium-ion-batteries-charge-to-the-next-level/.Google Scholar
Wu, H. and Cui, Y., “Designing nanostructured Si anodes for high energy lithium ion batteries,” Nano Today, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 414–429, 2012.Google Scholar
Amprius, Inc., Fremont, CA, USA, “Amprius’ silicon nanowire Li-ion batteries power airbus zephyr S HAPS solar aircraft,” December 4, 2018. [Online]. Available: www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/amprius-silicon-nanowire-lithium-ion-batteries-power-airbus-zephyr-s-haps-solar-aircraft-300759406.html.Google Scholar
Gallagher, K. et al., “Quantifying the promise of Li-air batteries for electric vehicles,” Energy Environ. Sci., vol. 7, pp. 1555–1563, 2014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, D., Liu, Y., and Cui, Y., “Reviving the lithium metal anode for high-energy batteries,” Nature Nanotechnol., vol. 12, pp. 194–206, 2017.Google Scholar
Cheng, X., Zhang, R., Zhao, C., and Zhang, Q., “Toward safe lithium metal anode rechargeable batteries: a review,” Chem. Rev., vol. 117, no. 15, pp. 10403–10473, 2017.Google Scholar
Patel, P., “New battery tech. launches in drones,” IEEE Spectrum, vol. 55, no. 7 pp. 7–9, July 2018.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SolidEnergy, Woburn, MA, USA, “How SolidEnergy is transforming the future of transportation and connectivity,” 2017. [Online]. Available: http://assets.solidenergysystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/24022118/SES_WhitePaper.pdf.Google Scholar
Xue, W. et al., “Gravimetric and volumetric energy densities of lithium-sulfur batteries,” Curr. Opin. Electrochem., vol. 6, pp. 92–99, 2017.Google Scholar
Sigler, D., “Oxis energy hits a lithium-sulfur battery high,” Sustainable Skies, October 4, 2018. [Online]. Available: http://sustainableskies.org/oxis-hits-a-lithium-sulfur-battery-high-of-425-whkg/.Google Scholar
Froese, M., “Sion power to produce licerion rechargeable batteries for EVs and drones,” Windpower Eng. Dev., January 31, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://www.windpowerengineering.com/sion-power-produce-licerion-rechargeable-batteries-evs-drones/.Google Scholar
Kaskel, D. S., “Recent progress in lithium-sulfur-batteries,” presented at the 7th Intl. Adv. Automotive Battery Conf., Mainz, Germany, 2017.Google Scholar
Fotouhi, A. et al., “Lithium-sulfur battery technology readiness and applications: A review,” Energies, vol. 10, no. 12, p. 1937, 2017.Google Scholar
Lin, Z. and Liang, C., “Lithium-sulfur batteries: from liquid to solid cells,” J. Mater. Chem. A, vol. 3, pp. 936–958, 2015.Google Scholar
Eroglu, D., Zavedil, K. R., and Gallagher, K. G., “Critical link between materials chemistry and cell-level design for high energy density and low cost lithium-sulfur transportation battery,” J. Electrochem. Soc., vol. 162, no. 6, pp. A982–A990, 2015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Girishkumar, G. et al., “Lithium-air battery: promise and challenges,” J. Phys. Chem. Lett. vol. 1, pp. 2193–2203, 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schnell, J. et al., “All-solid-state lithium-ion and lithium metal batteries: Paving the way for large-scale production,” J. Power Sources, vol. 382, pp. 160–175, 2018.Google Scholar
Garvey, J., “Solid power,” Company Week, January 1, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://companyweek.com/company-profile/solid-power.Google Scholar
Li, C. et al., “Estimation of energy density of Li-S batteries with liquid and solid electrolytes,” J. Power Sources, vol. 326, pp. 1–5, 2016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, D., Liu, Y., and Cui, Y., “Reviving the lithium metal anode for high-energy batteries,” Nat. Nanotech., vol. 12, pp. 194–206, 2017.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions, Washington, DC, USA. “Battery500 consortium to spark EV innovations: pacific northwest national laboratory-led, 5-year $50M effort seeks to almost triple energy stored in electric car batteries,” July 28, 2016. [Online]. Available: www.energy.gov/technologytransitions/articles/battery500-consortium-spark-ev-innovations-pacific-northwest-national.Google Scholar
Unger, D. J., “Illinois researchers seek a battery you can pump into your car’s tank,” The Energy News Network, March 1, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://energynews.us/2017/03/01/midwest/illinois-researchers-seek-a-battery-you-can-pump-into-your-cars-tank/.Google Scholar
Chen, J. J., Symes, M. D., and Cronin, L., “Highly reduced and protonated aqueous solutions of [P2W18O62] 6− for on-demand hydrogen generation and energy storage,” Nat. Chem., vol. 10, pp. 1042–1047, 2018.Google Scholar
Araujo, C. M. et al., “Fuel selection for a regenerative organic fuel cell/flow battery: thermodynamic considerations,” Energy Environ. Sci., vol. 5, p. 9534, 2012.Google Scholar
Soloveichik, G., “A novel concept for energy storage,” presented at the Trans-Atlantic Workshop on Storage Tech. for Power Grids, Washington, DC, 2010, Available: www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/piprod/documents/Session_D_Soloveichik.pdf.Google Scholar
Liu, Y. et al., “A comprehensive review on recent progress in aluminum-air batteries,” Green Energy Environ., vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 246–277, 2017.Google Scholar
Rovito, M., “The alloyed powers,” Charged Electric Vehicles Magazine, vol. 13, pp. 26–32, April 2014.Google Scholar
Mori, R., “A novel aluminum-air rechargeable battery with Al2O3 as the buffer to suppress byproduct accumulation directly onto an aluminum anode and air cathode,” RSC Adv., vol. 4, pp. 30346–30351, 2014.Google Scholar
Hopkins, B. J., Shao-Horn, Y., and Hart, D. P., “Suppressing corrosion in primary aluminum-air batteries via oil displacement,” Science, vol. 362, no. 6415, pp. 658–661, 2018.Google Scholar
Ryu, J. et al., “Seed-mediated atomic-scale reconstruction of silver manganate nanoplates for oxygen reduction towards high-energy aluminum-air flow batteries,” Nat. Commun., vol. 9, 2018, Article 3715.Google Scholar
Vegh, J. M. and Alonso, J. J., “Design and optimization of short-range aluminum-air powered aircraft,” presented at the 54th AIAA Aerosp. Sci. Mtg., San Diego, CA, 2016, Paper AIAA 2016-1026.Google Scholar
Giordani, V. et al., “A molten salt lithium-oxygen battery,” J. Am. Chem. Soc., vol. 138, no. 8, pp. 2656–2663, 2016.Google Scholar
Xia, C., Kwok, C. Y., and Nazar, L. F., “A high-energy-density lithium-oxygen battery based on a reversible four-electron conversion to lithium oxide,” Science, vol. 361, no. 6404, pp. 777–781, 2018.Google Scholar
Feng, S., Lunger, J. R., Johnson, J. A., and Shao-Horn, Y., “Hot lithium-oxygen batteries charge ahead,” Science, vol. 361, no. 6404, p. 758, 2018.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Licht, S. et al., “Molten air: A new, highest energy class of rechargeable batteries,” Energy Environ. Sci., vol. 6, no. 12, pp. 3646–3657, 2013.Google Scholar
Jin, Y. et al., “An intermediate temperature garnet-type solid electrolyte-based molten lithium battery for grid energy storage,” Nat. Energy, vol. 3, pp. 732–738, 2018.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lapena-Rey, N., Mosquera, J., Bataller, E., and Orti, F., “First fuel-cell manned aircraft,” J. Aircraft, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 1825–1835, 2010.Google Scholar
The German Aerosp. Center (DLR), Germany. “Zero-emission air transport: First flight of four-seat passenger aircraft HY4.” [Online]. Available: www.dlr.de/dlr/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10081/151_read-19469/#/gallery/24480.Google Scholar
Phys.org, “World’s first 4-seater fuel-cell plane takes off in Germany.” [Online]. Available: https://phys.org/news/2016-09-world-seater-fuel-cell-plane-germany.html.Google Scholar
RT.com, “China becomes 3rd country to test hydrogen-powered plane – report,” [Online]. Available: https://www.rt.com/news/373102-china-hydrogen-fuel-aircraft/.Google Scholar
Wentz, W. H., Myose, R. Y., and Mohamed, A. S., “Hydrogen-fueled general aviation airplanes”, presented at the 5th AIAA Aviation, Tech., Integration, and Operations Conf., Arlington, Virginia, 2005, Paper AIAA 2005-7324.Google Scholar
Kadyk, T., Winnefeld, C., Hanke-Rauschenbach, R., and Krewer, U., “Analysis and design of fuel cell systems for aviation,” Energies, vol. 11, no. 2, p. 375, 2018.Google Scholar
US DRIVE Partnership, “Fuel cell technical team roadmap,” [Online]. Available: www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/02/f8/fctt_roadmap_june2013.pdf.Google Scholar
Stoia, T. R., Atreya, S., O’Neil, P., and Balan, C., “A highly efficient solid oxide fuel cell power system for an all-electric commuter airplane flight demonstrator,” presented at the 54th AIAA Aerosp. Sci. Mtg., San Diego, CA, 2016, Paper AIAA 2016-1024.Google Scholar
Borer, N. K. et al., “Overcoming the adoption barrier to electric flight,” presented at the 54th AIAA Aerosp. Sci. Mtg., San Diego, CA, 2016. Paper AIAA 2016-1022.Google Scholar
Roth, B. and Giffin, R. III, “Fuel cell hybrid propulsion challenges and opportunities for commercial aviation,” presented at the 46th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conf. and Exhibit, Nashville, TN, 2010, Paper AIAA 2010-6537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zuo, W. et al., “Battery-supercapacitor hybrid devices: Recent progress and future prospects,” Adv. Sci., vol. 4, no. 7, 2017.Google Scholar
University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. “Alternative to traditional batteries moves a step closer after exciting progress in supercapacitor technology,” February 27, 2018. [Online]. Available: www.bris.ac.uk/news/2018/february/supercapacitor.html.Google Scholar
Rolls-Royce, Derby, UK. “Rolls-Royce links up with UK-based Superdielectrics to explore potential of very high energy storage technology,” March 19, 2018. [Online]. Available: www.rolls-royce.com/media/press-releases/2018/19-03-2018-rr-links-up-with-uk-based-superdielectrics.aspx.Google Scholar
Wetzel, E. D., “Reducing weight: Multifunctional composites integrate power, communications, and structure,” The AMPTIAC Quarterly, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 91–95, 2004.Google Scholar
Thomas, J. P. and Qidwai, M. A., “The design and application of multifunctional structure-battery materials systems,” JOM, vol. 57, no. 3, pp. 18–24, 2005.Google Scholar
Adam, T. J. et al., “Multifunctional composites for future energy storage in aerospace structures,” Energies, vol. 11, no. 2, p. 335, 2018.Google Scholar
Fredi, G. et al., “Graphitic microstructure and performance of carbon fibre Li-ion structural battery electrodes,” Multifunct. Mater., vol. 1, Paper No. 015003, 2018.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×