Principles of High-efficiency Electric Flight – Part 1: Motor, Battery, and Power Conditioning

Principles of High-efficiency Electric Flight – Part 1: Motor, Battery, and Power Conditioning

Principles of High-efficiency Electric Flight, Part 1:  Motor, Battery, and Power Conditioning

A new and fundamental theoretical framework for modeling the top-level performance of permanent-magnet-type machines is described and validated with test data. We apply the theory to optimally match motor and battery at full power. For reduced power at cruise, we predict and validate with test data the significant losses of the usual pulse-width-modulation method, and then review and apply ground electric vehicle DC boost technology as a high-efficiency alternative to PWM. An EXCEL model, freely available at the author’s website, is briefly demonstrated and applied to optimize the motor-battery system at full power.