Project-1: Powertrain for aircraft in runways
Q1.
The aircraft gross weight (also known as the all-up weight and abbreviated AUW) is the total aircraft weight at any moment during the flight or ground operation.[1][2][3]
An aircraft's gross weight will decrease during a flight due to fuel and oil consumption. An aircraft's gross weight may also vary during a flight due to payload dropping or in-flight refuelling.
At the moment of releasing its brakes, the gross weight of an aircraft is equal to its takeoff weight. During flight, an aircraft's gross weight is referred to as the en-route weight or in-flight weight.
The following image depicts takeoff weight components.
MTOW-Maximum Take off weight.
MLW-Maximum Landing Weight.
|
Type |
MTOW [kg] |
MLW [tons] |
|
640,000 |
591.7 |
|
|
589,670 |
||
|
575,000 |
394 |
|
|
447,700 |
346.091 |
|
|
443,613 |
306.175 |
|
|
412,770 |
295.742 |
|
|
Antonov An-124-100M |
405,060 |
330 |
|
396,900 |
295.742 |
|
|
381,000 |
288.417 |
|
|
377,840 |
285.700 |
|
|
377,840 |
260.320 |
|
|
371,950 |
240 |
|
|
367,400 |
256 |
|
|
347,800 |
260.816 |
|
|
351,800 |
251.29 |
|
|
347,450 |
223.168 |
|
|
340,200 |
265.300 |
|
|
308,000 |
233.5 |
|
|
299,370 |
237.683 |
|
|
297,550 |
213.00 |
|
|
276,700 |
190 |
|
|
273,300 |
185 |
|
|
270,000 |
175 |
|
|
270,000 |
195.04 |
|
|
256,280 |
183 |
|
|
254,000 |
192.777 |
|
|
254,000 |
201.849 |
|
|
253,500 |
181 |
|
|
250,000 |
175 |
|
|
242,000 |
185 |
|
|
242,000 |
180 |
|
|
231,300 |
166.92 |
|
|
228,000 |
172.365 |
|
|
211,400 |
||
|
208,000 |
175 |
|
|
204,000 |
158.758 |
|
|
192,000 |
140 |
|
|
187,000 |
136.08 |
|
|
185,000 |
111.1 |
|
|
163,000 |
138 |
|
|
159,000 |
136.078 |
|
|
157,000 |
124 |
|
|
152,000 |
151.9 |
|
|
151,000 |
97.5 |
|
|
151,000 |
112.1 |
|
|
147,000 |
||
|
142,000 |
123 |
|
|
141,000 |
122 |
|
|
140,000 |
||
|
125,000 |
||
|
124,000 |
101.6 |
|
|
117,000 |
86.3 |
|
|
116,000 |
89.9 |
|
|
106,000 |
79.5 |
|
|
104,000 |
79.5 |
|
|
104,000 |
80 |
|
|
104,000 |
87.5 |
|
|
87,500 |
||
|
85,000 |
66.36 |
|
|
85,000 |
71.35 |
|
|
84,000 |
70.1 |
|
|
Airbus A321-100[17] |
83,000 |
77.8 |
|
79,000 |
65.32 |
|
|
78,000 |
68.1 |
|
|
73,000 |
63.28 |
|
|
72,500 |
62.4 |
|
|
72,500 |
62.4 |
|
|
71,000 |
64.41 |
|
|
70,700 |
||
|
70,000 |
58.06 |
|
|
Airbus A320-100[17] |
68,000 |
66 |
|
68,000 |
54.9 |
|
|
68,000 |
||
|
67,000 |
||
|
66,000 |
54.66 |
|
|
65,000 |
57.61 |
|
|
65,000 |
||
|
64,000 |
62.5 |
|
|
63,000 |
51.7 |
|
|
60,000 |
49.9 |
|
|
59,000 |
50.80 |
|
|
59,000 |
57.5 |
|
|
55,000 |
47.174 |
|
|
55,000 |
||
|
54,000 |
||
|
50,000 |
46.265 |
|
|
50,000 |
||
|
48,600 |
||
|
48,500 |
||
|
48,000 |
43 |
|
|
46,000 |
||
|
46,000 |
39.95 |
|
|
44,000 |
||
|
42,000 |
36.74 |
|
|
39,000 |
||
|
37,500 |
32.8 |
|
|
36,500 |
33.345 |
|
|
36,000 |
32.8 |
|
|
33,000 |
30.39 |
|
|
33,000 |
||
|
30,400 |
||
|
28,000 |
28.01 |
|
|
23,000 |
21.319 |
|
|
22,800 |
22.35 |
|
|
22,800 |
21.5 |
|
|
22,000 |
19.3 |
|
|
18,600 |
18.3 |
|
|
13,150 |
12.930 |
|
|
11,500 |
11.25 |
|
|
10,890 |
10.570 |
|
|
9,752 |
8.709 |
|
|
8,300 |
7.665 |
|
|
8,150 |
7.65 |
|
|
7,765 |
7.605 |
|
|
7,761 |
7.103 |
|
|
7,000 |
||
|
4,800 |
4.43 |
Maximum taxi weight (MTW)
The maximum taxi weight (MTW) (also known as the Maximum Ramp Weight (MRW) is the maximum weight authorized for maneuvering (taxiing or towing) an aircraft on the ground as limited by aircraft strength and airworthiness requirements.It includes the weight of taxi and run-up fuel for the engines and the APU (Auxillary Power Unit).
It is greater than the maximum takeoff weight due to the fuel that will be burned during the taxi and runup operations.
The difference between the maximum taxi/ramp weight and the maximum take-off weight (maximum taxi fuel allowance) depends on the size of the aircraft, the number of engines, APU operation, and engines/APU fuel consumption, and is typically assumed for 10 to 15 minutes allowance of taxi and run-up operations.
Maximum takeoff weight (MTOW)
The maximum takeoff weight (also known as the maximum brake-release weight) is the maximum weight authorised at brake release for takeoff, or at the start of the takeoff roll.
The maximum takeoff weight is always less than the maximum taxi/ramp weight to allow for fuel burned during taxi by the engines and the APU.
In operation, the maximum weight for takeoff may be limited to values less than the maximum takeoff weight due to aircraft performance, environmental conditions, airfield characteristics (takeoff field length, altitude), maximum tire speed and brake energy, obstacle clearances, and/or en route and landing weight requirements.
Maximum landing weight (MLW)
The maximum weight authorised for normal landing of an aircraft.The MLW must not exceed the MTOW.
The operation landing weight may be limited to a weight lower than the Maximum Landing Weight by the most restrictive of the following requirements
Aircraft performance requirements for a given altitude and temperature:landing field length requirements,approach and landing climb requirements
Noise requirements
If the flight has been of short duration, fuel may have to be jettisoned to reduce the landing weight.
Overweight landings require a structural inspection or evaluation of the touch-down loads before the next aircraft operation.
Maximum zero-fuel weight (MZFW)
The maximum permissible weight of the aircraft less all usable fuel and other specified usable agents (engine injection fluid, and other consumable propulsion agents). It is the maximum weight permitted before usable fuel and other specified usable fluids are loaded in specified sections of the airplane
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Q2.
There is a difference between ground speed and air speed to understand this we should take in to account wind speed too.
Wind Speed
For a reference point picked on the ground, the air moves relative to the reference point at the wind speed. Notice that the wind speed is a vector quantity and has both a magnitude and a direction. Direction is important. A 20 mph wind from the west is different from a 20 mph wind from the east. The wind has components in all three primary directions (north-south, east-west, and up-down). In this figure, we are considering only velocities along the aircraft's flight path. A positive velocity is defined to be in the direction of the aircraft's motion. We are neglecting cross winds, which occur perpendicular to the flight path but parallel to the ground, and updrafts and downdrafts, which occur perpendicular to the ground.
Ground Speed
For a reference point picked on the ground, the aircraft moves relative to the reference point at the ground speed. Ground speed is also a vector quantity so a comparison of the ground speed to the wind speed must be done according to rules for vector comparisons.
Airspeed
The important quantity in the generation of lift is the relative velocity between the object and the air, which is called the airspeed. Airspeed cannot be directly measured from a ground position, but must be computed from the ground speed and the wind speed. Airspeed is the vector difference between the ground speed and the wind speed.
Airspeed = Ground Speed - Wind Speed
On a perfectly still day, the airspeed is equal to the ground speed. But if the wind is blowing in the same direction that the aircraft is moving, the airspeed will be less than the ground speed.
For example taking wind speed as 20 km/hr and runway is east-west runway the wind blowing towards west and the flight runs at 80 km/hr the wind speed acting in the west and the flight takes off east then the
Airspeed=Groundspeed(80)- Wind Speed(-20) =100 km/hr
If the planes runs towards west along the wind blowing direction then
the Airspeed=Groundspeed(80) - Wind Speed(20)=60km/hr
Hence there is a difference between ground speed and air speed.
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Q3.
We are assuming passenger commuter aircraft and large airliners. Aircraft move using their own engine power all the time on the airport apron and taxiways under their own power to go towards runways and after landing taxi to their assigned gate.
The only time they use external assistance is to pushback from the gate. Large turbofan aircraft need help to reverse via a pushback tractor. The engines are turned on after the pushback is complete and the aircraft can move forward under It’s own power.
Although many aircrafts are capable of moving in backward using reverse thrust, as result the jet blast or prop wash might cause damage to the terminal building or equipment. Engine close to ground may also blow sand and debris forward and then suck them into the engine, causing damage to the engine.
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Q4.
Large jetliner passenger aircraft are pushed away from the passenger loading gate by a tug. This is a machine with wheels, some form of power such as an internal combustion engine, or a battery. When the large aircraft is being pushed backwards, there is someone on each wing tip. They are looking out to make sure nothing will touch the aircraft. The whole idea is to avoid expensive crunching noises.
I hold mechanic certificate, trust me, when you hear a crunching sound and a modern airliner is involved, it will be expensive beyond your wildest imagination.
An airliner might be pushed backwards off the ramp, and onto a taxi way. Then the engines can start, the aircraft can proceed forward under its own power. A twin engine jet might not start the second engine until it is close to takeoff runway, clearance is certain.
A piston engine can run at idle power using only a small percentage of the fuel consumption used at operating power level. Turbine engines such as modern airliner turbo fan engine burn a lot of fuel once they are started. So, there is a lot of incentive to not run them until it is time to fly.
How to get off the gate? Three thugs, a tug, and a tow bar! No disrespect to ramp guys, they have a hard job, low pay, they are in the weather and the noise.
Airplanes have engines, and they can use them to move forward along the ground. So they push themselves to the runway.
It is true that most of the time, a small vehicle is needed to push the larger commercial airplanes backwards away from the terminal building, because even if a plane can reverse it’s thrust, it’s not always safe to hit the buildings with that reverse thrust. So the little trucks push the bigger planes back away from the buildings, but after that, the planes can apply a small amount of engine power to roll forward just as all airplanes can.
Aircraft push themselves to the runway.
Q5.
Take-Off Power:
For light aircraft, usually full power is used during takeoff. Large transport category (airliner) aircraft may use a reduced power for takeoff, where less than full power is applied in order to prolong engine life, reduce maintenance costs and reduce noise emissions. In some emergency cases, the power used can then be increased to increase the aircraft's performance. Before takeoff, the engines, particularly piston engines, are routinely run up at high power to check for engine-related problems. The aircraft is permitted to accelerate to rotation speed (often referred to as Vr). The term rotation is used because the aircraft pivots around the axis of its main landing gear while still on the ground, usually because of gentle manipulation of the flight controls to make or facilitate this change in aircraft attitude (once proper air displacement occurs under / over the wings, an aircraft will lift off on its own; controls are to ease that in).
The nose is raised to a nominal 5°–15° nose up pitch attitude to increase lift from the wings and effect liftoff. For most aircraft, attempting a takeoff without a pitch-up would require cruise speeds while still on the runway.
Tyre Design:
Based on the type of plies used the tyres can be:
Radial ply tires - these tyres feature a flexible casing which is constructed of rubber-coated ply cords which extend around the beads and are substantially at 90° to the centerline of the tread. The casing is stabilized by an essentially inextensible circumferential belt.
Bias ply tires - these tyres feature a casing which is constructed of alternate layers of rubber-coated ply cords which extend around the beads and are at alternate angles substantially less than 90° to the center line of the tread.
Based on the method for containing the inflation gas the tyres can be:
- Tube-type tyres - these require tubes for inflation retention.
- Tubeless tyres - these do not require tubes. They are constructed with an innerliner (integral rubber lining that is engineered to prevent the diffusion of the inflation gas into the casing.).
Rolling Resistance:
The resistance offered by the tyres against motion of vehicle/aircraft is called as rolling resistance, the rolling resistance is produced during take off/landing in the runway.
Tyre Pressure:
Aircraft tires are usually inflated with nitrogen to minimize expansion and contraction from extreme changes in ambient temperature and pressure experienced during flight. Dry nitrogen expands at the same rate as other dry atmospheric gases (normal air is about 80% nitrogen), but common compressed air sources may contain moisture, which increases the expansion rate with temperature.
Tests of airliner aircraft tires have shown that they are able to sustain pressures of maximum 800 psi (55 bar; 5,500 kPa) before bursting. During the tests the tires have to be filled with water, to prevent the test room being blown apart by the energy that would be released by a gas when the tire bursts.
The main landing gear on the Concorde was typically inflated to 232 psi (16.0 bar), whilst its tail bumper gear tires were as high as 294 psi (20.3 bar). The high pressure and weight load on the Concorde tyres were a significant factor in the loss of Air France flight 4590
Brakes Forces When Landing:
In general, when the wheels touch the ground, a set of spoilers raise up quickly, which kills the lift provided by the wings. (There are two sets seen in the image below: ground spoilers that only deploy on landing, and spoilers that are used in flight as speed brakes as well as on landing.) While the spoilers provide some drag, their primary purpose is to stop the plane from actually flying, putting all of the weight on the landing gear and in turn making the brakes that much more effective.
Aircraft have highly-engineered, multi-disc brakes made of a carbon-steel material. Manufacturers include Honeywell and Goodrich, part of Collins Aerospace. In general, the brakes are composed of discs that rotate with the wheel and separate discs that are fixed. When pressure is applied—and below you see pressure applied from the right fixed disc on all of the discs—the entire assembly compresses to create the braking action. Carbon brakes are standard today; they cool faster than steel brakes (their predecessor) and can weigh up to 700 pounds less. That represents a significant weight saving for airlines.
Auto Brakes:
Wheel brakes are usually selected to engage automatically after landing. These are called “autobrakes”.that all airliners have several levels of autobrake “severity”. The crew will decide which is the most appropriate to use for every landing depending upon factors like the length of runway, if it is wet or dry, or if the pilots want to exit the runway at a particular point. “For a short wet runway you might select autobrake 3, or MED on the Airbus. For a long dry runway you might select autobrake 1 or LOW on the Airbus".
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Q7
- The aircrafts use electric drives for ground operations (Taxxing and push back), in order to save the jet fuel consumptions.
- The type of motor to be used for aircraft towing applications. There are two types of alternatives. One is PMDC (Permanent magnet DC motor) and the BLDC (Brushless DC motor). We can select PMDC motor because it is widely used in electric vehicles.
- To calculate the power rating of the DC motor chosed. The power required for towing an aircraft is about 84.86KW. This will be our motor rating.
- To calculate the energy required for towing.
Energy for towing = (power required for towing) * (time required for towing)
Let the time be 15 mins for towing = 900 seconds.
It should be calculated in KW-h
E = 84.86*(900/1200) = 63.645 Kw-h.
This is the energy required for towing.
- Now to calculate the duty cycle for the towing operation. we can use a standard lithium ion battery pack for this operation. Assuming the input voltage needed to be 200V and the current required to be 400A.
Power input = V*I = 200*400 = 80000W = 80KW
- We have calculated the power output to be 63.645 Kw-h
- Duty cycle = power output/power input = 63.645/80 = 0.7955.
- Duty cycle for this towing operation is 79%
Fr = 0.02 * (40000 kg) *(9.81 m/s2)
= 7848 N
The friction for the puller can be calculated to
Ff = μ W
= μ mf ag
where,
Ff = frictional force (N)
μ = friction coefficient
W = Weight (N)
mf = friction mass (kg)
The friction coefficient between a pulling truck rubber wheels and dry runway is 0.9. Since pulling trucks are connected to air crafts nose wheels close to runway we simplify the calculation of required truck mass
mf = (7848 N) / (0.9 (9.81 m/s2))
= 889 kg
Taking radius of the wheel R as 0.3m
The torque is given by T=F*R
T= 7848 * 0.3
= 2354 N.m
The power for pulling/push the aircraft can be calculated as
P=F*V
V= velocity of pull vehicle taken as 5 km/hr
V=1.388 m/s
P=7848*1.388
=10893 W
=10.89 kW
Paramters that have been assumed in this calculation :
Aircraft weight = 41000Kgs.
Rolling resistance (runway) = 0.02
Rolling resistance (Push back) = 0.10
Pushback vehicle weight = 2000kgs
Pushback velocity = 5.55m/s
Towing operation time = 15mins
Battery voltage = 200V
Current required = 400A
The aerodynamic drag is not considered because it is negligible in the ground.