HTWK Leipzig develops new concepts for electric aircraft: The kick-off meeting for the ElVis project took place on 18 July 2022 at TU Dresden's Institute of Lightweight Engineering and Polymer Technology
Lightweight construction and energy storage play a particularly important role in the development of electrically powered aircraft. However, according to the current state of the art, battery systems contribute significantly to the moving mass and thus reduce the achievable range and transport capacity. Electric aircraft have therefore yet to achieve a breakthrough. One promising technology in this context is so-called structural batteries, batteries that also have a load-bearing function. The aviation research project ElVis has been researching such multifunctional materials at HTWK Leipzig since May 2022.
The three-year project "Development and testing of ultra-light composite structures with integrated electrical storage function" is being carried out as part of the BMWK's LuFo VI aviation research programme in collaboration with TU Dresden and Fraunhofer IWS. "In the project team, we have identified two key approaches for improving structural batteries: on the one hand, increasing the specific energy density of the individual storage cells. We are using lithium-sulphur battery concepts for this. On the other hand, we want to reduce the overall mass through targeted multifunctionalisation of the composite structures," says Prof. Robert Böhm from the Faculty of Engineering at HTWK Leipzig, explaining the research approach.
In the Elvis project, tape-shaped composite semi-finished products (so-called tapes) with mechanically flexible components as cathode and anode are being designed and manufactured and their further processability into lightweight composite structures is being investigated. Ultimately, a generic composite structure with an integrated electrical storage function is to be developed in close collaboration with interested industry representatives, including Airbus. "Completely new load-bearing concepts need to be developed here, especially for smaller aircraft, helicopters or drones, because the weight distribution in the aircraft leads to space-related challenges if heavier, more compact batteries have to be integrated into the structures," explains Dipl.-Ing. Michael Kucher, who is supporting the project at HTWK. M.Eng. Willi Zschiebsch adds: "We are developing numerical models and optimisation methods to evaluate the structural load-bearing capacity, the possible mass savings, the energy storage capacity and the achievable energy density, also in order to achieve a targeted improvement in costs and service life for different application scenarios."
The kick-off meeting for the ElVis project took place on 18 July 2022 at TU Dresden's Institute of Lightweight Structures and Polymer Technology. In addition to the project partners, industry representatives from Airbus and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) were also present.
