E-Thrust

The E-Thrust is an electrical distributed propulsion system for airplanes concept, for lower fuel consumption, fewer emissions and less noise. Watch the video….

Images © EADS

“Airbus and EADS Innovation Works, along with other industry players like Rolls-Royce and Siemens, are exploring different avenues to find innovative solutions to the challenges the aviation industry is facing in the future. They are investigating one such avenue for a 2050 timeframe – a hybrid/electrical distributed propulsion system as an intermediate but necessary step towards fully electric propulsion for airliners.”

“Airbus, in its role as integrator, has taken its concept plane – a vision of aviation in the future – and used it to create the eConcept, a visualisation of the architecture and configuration of what an aircraft of the future could look like powered by hybrid/electrical distributed propulsion. The DEAP project (represented by the initial E-Thrust configuration) is bringing the technologies, while Airbus is giving its expertise as an integrator – providing regular inputs and feedback on the technology developments.

For the E-Thrust concept, distributed propulsion means that several electrically-powered fans are distributed in clusters along the wing span, with one advanced gas power unit providing the electrical power for six fans and for the re-charging of the energy storage. The E-Thrust concept can be described as a serial hybrid propulsion system.
This configuration represents an initial starting point for future optimisations, with the optimum number of fans to be determined in trade-off studies in the DEAP project. Initial study results by Airbus indicate that a single large gas power unit has advantages over two or more smaller gas power units.

This will give a noise reduction and allows the filtering of particles in the long exhaust duct at the back of the engine.”