The aviation industry is increasingly prioritizing sustainability, with significant focus on the development of Hybrid-Electric Aircraft (HEA). By integrating electric motors with conventional combustion engines, HEA systems offer substantial environmental benefits and operational efficiency improvements. However, the successful implementation of HEA technologies is contingent upon advancements in power converter systems. This paper addresses the critical need for sustainable aviation solutions by examining the challenges and opportunities associated with High-Efficiency Aviation Power (HEAP) technology. Specifically, the study investigates the role of power converters in Hybrid-Electric Aircraft Propulsion systems, with a particular emphasis on addressing key concerns such as weight reduction, compact design, and system reliability. A comparative analysis of three converter topologies is conducted: two established configurations serve as baseline references, while a third topology, a modular, fault-tolerant DC-DC converter, is proposed for the first time in the context of hybrid-electric aircraft. Its novelty lies in the system-level use of redundancy to offer an inherent architectural advantage against cosmic-ray-induced failures a critical aviation reliability challenge that existing converter topologies do not address through hardware redundancy. This qualitative reliability advantage is presented as an architectural feature, pending quantitative validation through future hardware testing and mean-time-between-failures (MTBF) analysis. This exploration is essential for identifying the most suitable configuration for HEA integration, with the goal of overcoming challenges related to lightweight design, high efficiency, and reliability. The findings contribute to the advancement of more sustainable and efficient aviation solutions by demonstrating the potential of the proposed converter architecture.
Abdulgafor Alfares (Thu,) studied this question.