{"id":33813,"date":"2023-06-12T11:43:06","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T10:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=33813"},"modified":"2023-06-12T11:43:06","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T10:43:06","slug":"lift-off-for-commercial-electric-planes-with-megawatt-electric-motor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/lift-off-for-commercial-electric-planes-with-megawatt-electric-motor\/33813\/","title":{"rendered":"Lift-off for commercial electric planes with megawatt electric motor breakthrough"},"content":{"rendered":"
Electrifying the aviation sector will be critical to meeting climate goals \u2013 accounting for more than 2% of global energy-related CO2<\/sub>\u00a0emissions in 2021.<\/a><\/p>\n However, until now, engineers have only been able to develop small electric planes with motors that only produce hundreds of kilowatts of power. To see electric planes on a commercial scale, megawatt motors are essential.<\/p>\n Engineers at MIT are now creating a 1-megawatt motor that could propel electric planes to new heights. The researchers have already designed and tested the motor’s major components, with detailed computations showing the technology can generate one megawatt of power at a weight and size similar to current small aero-engines.<\/p>\n The team is confident the motor can be paired with a battery or fuel cell to power the plane’s propellers \u2013 or a traditional turbofan jet engine to run as a hybrid propulsion system.<\/p>\n Zoltan Spakovszky, the leader of the project and Director of the Gas Turbine Laboratory (GTL) at MIT, said: “No matter what we use as an energy carrier \u2014 batteries, hydrogen, ammonia, or sustainable aviation fuel \u2014 independent of all that, megawatt-class motors will be a key enabler for greening aviation<\/a>.”<\/p>\n Various aerospace companies worldwide are striving to advance electrified propulsion and develop megawatt-scale motors that are powerful enough to propel commercial electric planes. This goal has proved incredibly challenging for the industry thus far.<\/p>\n Spakovszky explained: “There is no silver bullet to make this happen, and the devil is in the details. This is hard engineering in terms of co-optimising individual components and making them compatible while maximising overall performance.<\/p>\n \u201cTo do this means we have to push the boundaries in materials, manufacturing, thermal management, structures and rotor dynamics, and power electronics.”<\/p>\n Electric motors use electromagnetic force to generate motion \u2013 with the magnetic field typically produced through copper coils. Subsequently, a magnet positioned near the coils spins in the direction of the generated field to drive a fan or propeller.<\/p>\n However, the bigger the appliance or vehicle it needs to power, the larger the copper coils and the magnetic rotor needs to be, causing the machine to be heavier.<\/p>\n Additionally, the more electricity generated, the more components are required to keep the parts cool, taking up more space and weight. This is a major challenge for electric planes.<\/p>\n Spakovszky added: “Heavy stuff doesn’t go on aeroplanes. So we had to develop a compact, lightweight, and powerful architecture.”<\/p>\nChallenges with electric planes<\/h3>\n