Assessment of a solid oxide fuel cell powering a full electric aircraft subsystem architecture

Abstract: This paper presents the work from a Master thesisat Bauhaus Luftfahrt (Munich, Germany) about subsystemdesign and analysis for electric commercial aircraft, particularlythe assessment of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) powering a fullelectric subsystem architecture. The different components of theSOFC system architecture are modelled and assessed with theOpenMDAO framework. They are then assembled together toassess the performance of the whole SOFC system architecture,the main goal being to replace the conventional Auxiliary PowerUnit (APU) on the ground and to provide energy to all thesubsystems (e.g. flight controls, air conditioning, ice and rainprotection among others) of the aircraft during flight andground operations. The mass of the different components of theSOFC system is calculated, and a 2% operational empty massincrease is assumed for subsystem electrification. The resultsshow a kerosene block fuel reduction of 2.1% compared to theconventional baseline aircraft.