Modular Aircraft Airframe Segmentation for High-Voltage Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current aircraft with high-voltage environments, such as electrically powered thrust producing units, pose safety issues due to the integration of high-voltage components with passenger or cargo compartments, making them non-certifiable by aviation authorities and requiring improved accessibility and maintenance solutions for high-voltage energy sources.
Innovation Solution
A modular airframe design with segregated load carrying and propulsion system sections, featuring exchangeable covering items and standardized interfaces, allows for safe and efficient placement of high-voltage components, enabling quick replacement and customization, thus addressing safety and certification challenges.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of repair
If high-voltage energy sources and distribution system are arranged in lower airframe region directly below passenger compartment, then accessibility for maintenance is improved, but safety is worsened due to risk of protrusion into passenger compartment during crash
Solution Approach 1:
The airframe is divided into distinct segments: a load carrying framework supporting the passenger compartment, and separate propulsion system carrying sections located at the ends of the aircraft. This segmentation physically separates high-voltage components from the passenger compartment, preventing protrusion during crash while maintaining accessibility through detachable covering items.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If all high-voltage energy sources and distribution system are arranged in one common single compartment behind passenger compartment, then safety is improved by separation, but accessibility for maintenance is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The propulsion system components are segmented into multiple separate carrying sections located at different ends of the aircraft, each with its own detachable covering item. This allows maintenance personnel to access specific high-voltage components directly without needing to open a single large compartment, improving both safety and accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
Detachable covering items serve as intermediaries that provide controlled access to high-voltage components. These covering items can be quickly removed for maintenance and reattached for operation, mediating between the need for component accessibility and the need to maintain a safe, sealed propulsion system environment.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional helicopter design with fuel tanks beneath load carrying section is used, then ease of manufacture is improved, but safety is worsened due to crash risk of fuel tank protrusion
Solution Approach 1:
The aircraft structure is segmented into a primary load carrying framework and separate propulsion system carrying sections positioned at the ends. This segmentation maintains manufacturing simplicity while eliminating the crash hazard associated with placing energy storage components directly beneath the passenger compartment, as the propulsion sections are positioned away from the central load path.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention is related to an aircraft 1 with a modular airframe 2, the modular airframe 2 comprising a load carrying framework 2a and at least one exchangeable covering item 8a that exhibits a first predetermined shaping, the at least one exchangeable covering item 8a being detachably mounted to the load carrying framework 2a, wherein the modular airframe 2 is customizable by exchanging the at least one exchangeable covering item 8a with a substitute exchangeable covering item 8g that exhibits a second predetermined shaping.