Feasibility Study of Hybrid Propulsion for Light Aircraft

Electric propulsion is rapidly entering the aviation sector. The main drivers are lower carbon footprint and lower noise emission. The present work examines the feasibility of hybrid propulsion for two-seater light aircraft, such as the Hansa 3 aircraft of CSIR-NAL. Both parallel and series arrangements of electric motors and internal combustion engines are considered. A general-purpose code is developed to determine the aircraft performance for different flight profiles and specific combination of power plant units. The state-of- the-art rotary (Wankel) engines are considered. Electrical hardware includes state-of-the-art motors and currently available lithium-ion batteries. A comparison is made between specific case of all-electric propulsion with various hybrid-electric propulsion system (HEPS). It is found that significant improvement in the performance of hybrid combinations with respect to all-electric case is observed. The work suggests that it is now an opportune time to enter the electric propulsion through the hybrid route.