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Radical new electrically propelled aircraft are being considered to meet strict future performance goals. One concept design proposed is a Turboelectric Distributed Propulsion (TeDP) aircraft that utilises a number of electrically driven propulsors. Such concepts place a new and significant reliance on an aircraft's electrical system for safe and efficient flight. Accordingly, in addition to providing certainty that supply reliability targets are being met, a contingency analysis, evaluating the probability of component failure within the electrical network and the impact of that failure upon the available thrust must also be undertaken for architecture designs. Solutions that meet specified thrust requirements at a minimum associated weight are desired as these will likely achieve the greatest performance against the proposed emissions targets.

Turboelectric Distributed Propulsion (TeDP) is actively being investigated as a means of providing thrust in future generations of aircraft. In response to the lack of published work regarding the system-level fault behaviour of a fully superconducting network, this paper presents key points from a two stage Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) of a representative TeDP network. The first stage FMEA examines the qualitative behaviour of various network failure modes and considers the subsequent effects on the operation of the remainder of the network, enabling the identification of key variables influencing the fault response of the network. For the second stage FMEA, the paper focuses on the characterisation of the rate at which electrical faults develop within a TeDP network.

Within aircraft electrical network designs, energy storage systems (ESS) provide a means of decoupling the electrical-mechanical interactions between the aircraft electrical power system and the aircraft engine, meeting peak load demand and maintaining power quality during network disturbances and variable load conditions. Within the literature to date, control and management strategies of ESSs for such applications has primarily focused on normal network operation with only limited coverage on the behavior of such technologies under abnormal conditions and the subsequent impact on the operation of the wider power system. Through modeling and simulation of a generic aircraft electrical system, this paper will highlight the potential risks of the inherent, sub-optimal operation of certain existing control strategies during fault conditions.

NASA has compiled a set of research goals for five year periods starting 2015, 2020 and 2025 for three classes of future subsonic aircraft, N+1 (2015), N+2 (2020) and N+3 (2025). With the intention of progressively making reductions in noise emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, fuel burn and energy consumption at each of these points to achieve Technology Readiness Levels (TRL's) of between 4 and 6. In the last few years much progress has been made towards achieving these goals through the development of new technologies and designs. This paper assesses how the current More Electric Aircraft (MEA) design concepts are advancing to allow the near term, N+1 goals of reducing 32 dB of noise emissions, 60% of the landing and take-off (LTO) NOx emissions, 55% of cruise emissions and 33% saving of fuel burn and energy consumption, relative to single aisle B737-800, could be met and eventually surpassed.