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Collins Aerospace Develops Solid-State Power Technologies for Hybrid-Electric Propulsion

Aviation and Aerospace

Prototype, Advancement, Distribution, Technologies

Business Honor
31 October, 2024

Collins Aerospace develops key technologies for hybrid-electric aircraft, supporting EU’s innovative SWITCH project

Collins Aerospace, part of RTX, successfully completed the prototype of a solid-state power controller and power distribution panel to support the SWITCH project under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. These technologies will be integrated soon at The Grid, Collins' Electric Power Systems laboratory located in Rockford, Illinois.

SWITCH is an important project for the advancement of high-voltage distribution technology needed for hybrid-electric propulsion systems in future aircraft operating at megawatt-level power. RTX's hybrid-electric propulsion system consists of two megawatt-class electric motor generators from Collins and a Pratt & Whitney GTF engine. The new solid-state power controller and distribution panel will play a critical role in managing high-voltage electricity within the SWITCH framework, even at cruising altitudes.

"Hybrid-electric aircraft are key to the aviation sector's target to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, said Tino Schuldt, general manager of Collins Nördlingen facility. "Without new innovative and safe high-voltage power distribution systems, however, such aircraft won't soar the skies," he says, while underscoring that "a rich source of know-how on various power distribution solutions has a very central role in delivering enabling technologies for next-gen hybrid and all-electric aircraft.".

Pierre Durel, SWITCH project officer, emphasized that the hybrid-electric propulsion technology is essential for reducing CO2 emissions in short to medium-range aircraft. We can now look forward to substantial advances, the first results of the realization of what promises to deliver critical items for ground test demonstrator by the end Phase 1, he added.

The SWITCH consortium consists of major industry players, such as MTU Aero Engines AG, Pratt & Whitney, GKN Aerospace, and Airbus, and is supported by the European Union through grant agreement no. 101102006.