Comparison of electric ducted fans for future green aircrafts

Abstract

The market of light hybrid and all-electric aircraft is developing rapidly, many start-up companies have introduced their concepts and designs which are to enter to service in the next few years. At the same time, university and government research programs on hybrid and all-electric aircraft have focused more on regional, medium and long-haul aircraft. This article will emphasize the application of electric propulsion for eco-friendly light general aircraft. The goal of this paper is to introduce and develop aircraft and propulsor concepts, create methodology and a tool to calculate and make analysis of propulsor and electric motors that they contain. The Electric Ducted Fan (EDF) was chosen as a propulsor, four different types of EDF cores were introduced and developed in this article. For EDF parameters calculation analytical methods were chosen, additionally guidelines for creating a MATLAB code for making calculating easier will be presented. The design point was to achieve the same thrust for all types of EDF by changing design parameters to be able compare all other EDF’s parameters. The results represent calculations for four core types of EDF and their analysis. Electric motors are developing rapidly, so research was held in regard to technological development. Based on the analysis guidelines of usage of different types EDF for role aircraft were presented.