| Project Detail |
A key obstacle to realizing fully electric aircraft is the size and weight of the electric motor and power electronics systems. Current systems lack lightweight on-board DC-DC conversion to manage the varying DC voltages associated with battery charge/discharge and with it the possibilities of integrating different battery technologies to a common DC bus and embedding fault protection in the converters themselves. While such high voltage DC-DC conversion systems exist in applications such as shipboard power distribution and solar PV systems, they tend to be very heavy, and not rated for the stringent vibration, shock, and electromagnetic interference requirements for electric aircraft. Project Innovation + Advantages: The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) will develop ultra-light-weight and efficient DC-DC power converters for electric aircraft. The team will drive power density and efficiency through innovation in the electrical and thermal domains and will apply sophisticated modeling and digital control to achieve system-level scalability, reliability, and fault-detection. If successful, this project will propel a disruptive change in electric aircraft propulsion systems, enabling low-cost, high-efficiency, and highly reliable electric flight DC power conversion and distribution. . UC Berkeley’s design could enable a 12x reduction in weight and a 3-5x reduction in power loss as compared to what is possible today. Potential Impact: Efficient and light-weight bidirectional DC-DC power converters are a missing link in electric aircraft design, and their development will open up new aircraft concepts. |
