X-57 Power and Command System Design

Abstract

This paper describes the power and command system architecture of the X‑57 Maxwell flight demonstrator aircraft. The X-57 is an experimental aircraft designed to demonstrate radically improved aircraft efficiency with a 3.5 times aero-propulsive efficiency gain at a “high‑speed cruise” flight condition for comparable general aviation aircraft. These gains are enabled by integrating the design of a new, optimized wing and a new electric propulsion system. As a result, the X‑57 vehicle takes advantage of the new capabilities afforded by electric motors as primary propulsors. Integrating new technologies into critical systems in experimental aircraft poses unique challenges that require careful design considerations across the entire vehicle system, such as qualification of new propulsors (motors, in the case of the X-57 aircraft), compatibility of existing systems with a new electric power distribution bus, and instrumentation and monitoring of newly qualified propulsion system devices.