Swappable Battery Pack Assignment for Electric Aircraft
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electric VTOL aircraft batteries degrade quickly due to rapid recharging, leading to oversized battery packs and increased operating costs, necessitating a method to maximize battery lifespan and minimize pack size while ensuring adequate energy supply for flights.
Innovation Solution
A system that assigns swappable battery packs to aircraft based on their state of health and energy demands, prioritizing healthier packs for higher-demand flights and extending the life of lower-state packs by using them for lower-demand flights, thereby optimizing battery usage and reducing aircraft weight and costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If rapid recharging is used to minimize aircraft downtime, then aircraft utilization is improved, but battery degradation accelerates significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary assessment of battery state of health before assignment to flights. By evaluating battery conditions in advance and assigning healthier batteries to high-demand flights proactively, the system prevents accelerated degradation while maintaining aircraft utilization. The computing system determines assignments based on predicted states of health before flights occur, not after degradation has already happened.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback loops by monitoring battery state of health, charge capacity, and cycle count. This feedback information is used to dynamically adjust battery assignments, removing degraded batteries from high-demand flights and replacing them with healthier ones. The feedback mechanism enables the system to maintain optimal aircraft utilization while preventing further degradation of aging batteries.
2Reliability
If battery packs are oversized to meet maximum range requirements at end-of-life, then safety and range requirements are satisfied, but aircraft weight and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from a static, conservative battery sizing approach to a dynamic assignment strategy. Instead of all batteries being sized for maximum range at end-of-life, the system dynamically assigns batteries based on their actual state of health and predicted performance. This allows the aircraft to carry appropriately sized batteries for each specific flight mission, reducing overall weight while maintaining safety margins through active management.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of battery assignment from a fixed, conservative approach to a variable approach based on state of health predictions. By using predicted state of health values and cycle life projections, the system can assign batteries with different effective capacities to different flights, optimizing the match between battery capability and flight requirements rather than always using oversized batteries.
3Ease of operation
If battery packs are assigned without considering state of health, then assignment simplicity is maintained, but battery lifespan is reduced due to inappropriate high-demand assignments
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables batteries to effectively 'self-report' their condition through embedded sensors and monitoring systems that automatically provide state of health, charge capacity, and cycle count data. This self-service capability eliminates the need for manual assessment while providing the computing system with the information needed to make optimized assignments. The automated data collection maintains simplicity while enabling sophisticated management.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces manual battery assessment and assignment procedures with an automated computing system that uses algorithms to evaluate predicted state of health and optimize assignments. This substitution of mechanical/manual processes with computational automation maintains operational simplicity while dramatically improving battery lifespan through data-driven decision-making.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for assigning swappable battery packs to electric aircraft includes receiving, at a computing system, status information for a plurality of battery packs located at at least one battery swapping location, wherein the status information comprises states of charge and states of health for the plurality of battery packs; determining, by the computing system, energy requirements for a plurality of electric aircraft based at least in part on flight plans for the plurality of electric aircraft; determining, by the computing system, assignments of at least a portion of the plurality of battery packs to the plurality of electric aircraft based at least in part on the states of charge and states of health of the plurality of battery packs and the energy requirements for the plurality of aircraft; and swapping at least one battery pack into at least one aircraft based on the determined assignments.