Investigation of HTS cable impact on turbo‐electric aircraft performance

With significant interest in the use of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) components in electric aircraft, there is a need for novel modelling techniques that allow architecture-level studies of the electrical systems including HTS components. In this study, a simple electric network architecture, as proposed in the literature has been considered, which includes generators, dynamic propulsion load and cables. This electric network has been modelled considering conventional technology and using HTS cables by replacing the conventional copper cables, to evaluate the variations in the network performance. The network performance has been studied for the dynamically varying propulsion load, which is nearly equivalent to the aircraft load over the entire flight duration. Following this, electric faults have been applied at various locations, and the impact of HTS cables on the network fault levels has been evaluated. The fault current levels are compared using both conventional and HTS cables, due to the fault current limiting properties of the HTS cables, they are observed to offer lowered fault current values.