Thermal management of hydrogen-powered aircraft

氢动力飞机的热管理

• 批准号: 2908405
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Imperial College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2908405
• 关键词: Thermal; management; hydrogen; powered; aircraft

This project is a collaboration with ZeroAvia who retrofits hydrogen-electric powertrains onto regional and general aviation aircraft. On the highest level, the aim is to experimentally and numerically interrogate aerodynamic features surrounding the thermal management system. Hydrogen fuel cells are rarely found on aircraft, leading to the technology being optimised for other industries such as automotive. Early tests using automotive-derived thermal management systems on testbed aircraft have shown undesirable parasitic drag increases. This requires a deeper level of understanding regarding dominant aerodynamic features associated with these retrofits, especially as the technology scales to higher power requirements. Key objectives/research questions are:- What aerodynamic features, steady or unsteady, dominate retrofitted installations? How are these affected by key design variables (e.g. prop-cooling duct distance)?- In this parametric study, development of an experimental test rig (using PIV/PLIF, cold/hotwires, unsteady probes) along with a CFD solver (adapting an existing DNS code with propeller model), will be required.- What are the performance penalties associated with the highlighted dominant features? - This will enable derivation of aerospace-specific thermal management system design metrics/procedures.- How can we improve performance using passive flow control and/or geometric optimisation?- This section will utilise the understanding derived in the first two stages. The applications of this project are closely coupled with two 'technology bricks', thermal management and aerodynamic structures, outlined as vital for the development of hydrogen aircraft by the Aerospace Technology Institute in their 2022 'FlyZero' report. Despite work being focussed on geometries associated with ZeroAvia's retrofits, research will be applicable to the hydrogen aircraft space as a whole. Small reductions in parasitic drag will present valuable range increases, helping improve the commercialisation of this technology. A parametric study, utilising high-level aerodynamic interrogation with PIV/PLIF, alongside quantification of the system-wide penalties from dominant aerodynamic features, presents as novel research. Prior works largely present simplifications and assumptions that are not applicable to the challenges ZeroAvia faces, for example, the absence of unsteady aerodynamic features in a cooling duct. This bias in the literature is generated from the high computing power required for unsteady CFD simulations, alongside the difficulties and expenses incurred with experimental interrogation. Additionally, research largely focusses on turbofan installations, leading to a lack of studies in the literature applicable to new geometries.

该项目是与 ZeroAvia 的合作，ZeroAvia 将氢电动动力系统改装到支线和通用航空飞机上。在最高层面上，目标是通过实验和数值方式询问热管理系统周围的空气动力学特征。氢燃料电池在飞机上很少见，导致该技术针对汽车等其他行业进行了优化。在飞机试验台上使用汽车衍生的热管理系统进行的早期测试表明，寄生阻力会增加。这需要更深入地了解与这些改造相关的主要空气动力学特征，特别是当技术扩展到更高的功率要求时。主要目标/研究问题是：- 哪些空气动力学特征（稳定或不稳定）主导改装装置？这些如何受到关键设计变量（例如螺旋桨冷却管道距离）的影响？- 在这项参数研究中，开发了实验测试装置（使用 PIV/PLIF、冷/热线、非稳态探头）以及 CFD 求解器（采用 CFD 求解器）需要使用现有的带有螺旋桨模型的 DNS 代码。- 与突出显示的主要特征相关的性能损失是什么？ - 这将能够推导航空航天专用热管理系统设计指标/程序。- 我们如何使用被动流量控制和/或几何优化来提高性能？- 本节将利用前两个阶段中获得的理解。该项目的应用与热管理和空气动力学结构这两个“技术砖”紧密结合，航空航天技术研究所在其 2022 年“FlyZero”报告中将其概述为氢飞机的开发至关重要。尽管工作重点是与 ZeroAvia 改造相关的几何形状，但研究将适用于整个氢飞机领域。寄生阻力的小幅减少将带来宝贵的航程增加，有助于提高该技术的商业化。一项参数研究利用 PIV/PLIF 进行高级空气动力学询问，同时对主要空气动力学特征对系统范围的影响进行量化，这是一项新颖的研究。先前的工作主要提出了不适用于 ZeroAvia 面临的挑战的简化和假设，例如，冷却管道中不存在不稳定的空气动力学特征。文献中的这种偏差是由于非稳态 CFD 模拟所需的高计算能力以及实验询问所带来的困难和费用而产生的。此外，研究主要集中在涡轮风扇装置上，导致文献中缺乏适用于新几何形状的研究。