On the Potentials of the Integration of Pressure Gain Combustion with a Hybrid Electric Propulsion System

Abstract

As the issue of pollutant emissions from aviation propulsion escalates, research into alternative powertrains is gaining momentum. Two promising technologies are the Hybrid Electric Propulsion System (HEPS) and Pressure Gain Combustion (PGC). HEPS is expected to reduce pollutant emissions by decreasing fuel consumption, whereas PGC uses detonation in the combustor to increase the thermal efficiency of engines by elevating the total pressure during combustion. This study extensively explores the integration of these two emerging technologies, thoroughly assessing the advantages that arise from their combination. First, the renowned turboprop engine PW127 is benchmarked and modeled using Gasturb software. The model is integrated into Simulink using the T-MATS tool, with HEPS and pressure gain components added to analyze the thermodynamics of various configurations under different pressure gain values and HEPS parameters. The analysis, conducted up to the cruise phase of the baseline aircraft, reveals that applying pressure gain combustion through Rotating Detonation Combustion (RDC) results in a more significant increase in efficiency and decrease in fuel consumption compared to HEPS with conventional gas turbines. However, HEPS helps maintain a more uniform combustor inlet condition and reduces the Turbine Inlet Temperature (TIT) at the takeoff phase, where the highest TIT otherwise occurs. The results suggest that integrating HEPS with PGC can be beneficial in maintaining optimal combustor conditions and mitigating turbine efficiency degradation.