Aircraft Structural Battery Integration for Weight and Stiffness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aircraft face spatial and weight constraints that limit the integration of conventional energy-storage devices, necessitating the development of structurally integrated energy supply systems that can efficiently store and distribute electrical energy while maintaining structural integrity.
Innovation Solution
The integration of a cell array with elongate cell volumes and energy-producing inserts within aircraft structural components, which provides both structural load distribution and electrical energy storage, allowing for increased energy storage density and reduced weight and size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If conventional energy-storage devices are used in aircraft, then electrical energy can be stored and supplied to energy-consuming systems, but spatial constraints and weight limitations prevent adequate energy storage capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the structural components of the aircraft with the energy-storage system by integrating battery packs into structural elements such as floor beams, wing spars, and fuselage frames. This combination eliminates the need for separate dedicated energy-storage spaces, allowing electrical energy to be stored within the existing structural framework of the aircraft, thereby increasing energy storage capacity without adding proportional weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The aircraft structural components serve dual functions: providing mechanical support and housing energy-storage devices. Structural elements like floor beams and wing spars simultaneously bear structural loads and contain battery packs, transforming single-function components into multi-functional systems that address both structural integrity and energy storage requirements.
2Speed
If conventional energy-storage devices are positioned close to energy-consuming systems, then rapid energy supply is achieved, but spatial constraints force devices to be located at significant distances
Solution Approach 1:
The energy-storage system is segmented into multiple distributed battery packs positioned at various locations within the aircraft structure, such as floor beams, wing spars, and fuselage sections. This segmentation allows energy-consuming systems to be supplied by nearby battery packs, reducing transmission distances and improving energy supply speed while utilizing the distributed structural framework.
3Weight of moving object
If aircraft structural components are used for energy storage, then weight and size are reduced, but structural integrity must be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
Energy-storage devices are nested within the hollow or void spaces of existing structural components such as floor beams, wing spars, and fuselage frames. This nesting approach utilizes the internal volume of structural elements without compromising their load-bearing capacity, allowing battery packs to be housed within the structural framework while maintaining the original structural integrity and strength characteristics.
Data Source
AI summary
Structurally integrated energy supply systems for aircraft and methods of forming the structurally integrated energy supply systems. The structurally integrated energy supply systems include an aircraft structural component, a cell array, and a plurality of energy-producing inserts. The aircraft structural component at least partially defines an interior region. The cell array includes a plurality of cell walls that defies a plurality of elongate cell volumes and is positioned within the interior region. Each energy-producing insert in the plurality of energy-producing inserts is positioned within a corresponding elongate cell volume in the plurality of elongate cell volumes and is configured to produce a corresponding insert electric current. The cell array provides structural load distribution to the aircraft structural component via the plurality of cell walls and contributes to a structural stiffness of the aircraft structural component.