The energy-optimized aircraft

Aerospace sings the body electric with the integration of stand-alone electric subsystems.

In past years, the concept of the “more-electric aircraft” was primarily about developing a handful of more-electric subsystems, such as main engine starters and flight-control actuation. Developed independently of the systems around them, these new electric subsystems did their one distinct job but had a limited affect on an aircraft s ability to share and transmit energy. In some instances, they even caused electrical transients that degraded the performance of related system.

Like a balloon that's squeezed in the middle but popped out at the ends, not enough thought was given to how such electric systems affected components around them, and how they should be integrated into aircraft-wide power- and thermal-management systems.