SMEs driving innovation for clean aviation
One of today’s main challenges in the aircraft industry is to shift towards more energy-efficient integrated electrical architectures, to optimize as well the non-propulsive energy generation and distribution. Designing Auxiliary Power Units (APU) that are able to interact smoothly with the main engines will allow fuel savings and to reduce CO2 generation.
BrightLoop Converters is participating in the Clean Sky 2 program under the SMARTCONVSYST project which is related to “High Density Energy Conversion System for an APU”. The main goal is to tackle the challenges brought by this shift to cleaner air mobility by providing an optimized integrated APU including gearbox, electric machine and power electronics to generate 540VDC that will be directly injected into the aircraft’s HVDC electrical network.
The project therefore includes the design, manufacture and test of a new concept in the generation of electricity in aircraft with an APU combined with high speed electrical generation. Thanks to the high speed architecture, the size and weight of the gearbox and electrical generator are much reduced, compared with state-of-the-art solutions. Also, the full reversibility of the system allows removing the starter machine, previously required. This results into a very energy-efficient, compact and lightweight system to convert gas to HVDC electrical power.