Conceptual Design of a Battery-Powered High Lift System for Single-Aisle Aircraft

State-of-the-art high lift systems either use hydraulic or electric motors to drive the transmission system. High power but only for a short drive cycle is required for deployment and retraction of the high lift system. For decreasing peak loads within the aircraft’s power systems architecture, integration of energy storage technology becomes interesting. In the scope of this paper, conceptual design of a battery-powered high lift system for a typical single-aisle aircraft is presented. Emphasis is put on design of a lithium-ion battery system and its integration into the reference aircraft. Further, requirements regarding performance as well as safety and reliability are identified; compliance of the proposed design is assessed accordingly. The medium-term perspective of this innovative technology is addressed by means of assessment of weight impact on overall aircraft-level. Further, the perspective of the proposed technology regarding retro-fitability in derivatives of current aircraft will be discussed. The paper concludes with compliance of the proposed technology to current airworthiness standards in relation to recent lithium-ion battery incidents.