A status of the United States Air Force's More Electric Aircraft initiative

摘要: Since the early 1990s, United States Air Force has been successfully pursuing advancement in aircraft electrical power system technologies as a means of collectively establishing capability to dramatically reduce or eliminate centralized hydraulics aboard and replace it with motive force for all functions. This overall approach (called More Electric Aircraft, MEA) analytically determined provide dramatic improvements reliability, maintainability, supportability operations/support cost well enhancements weight, volume, battle-damage reconfigurability. Advances switched reluctance configuration electric machines solid state electronics enabled demonstration an MEA. paper provides: (1) brief historical treatment technology milestones achieved which MEA approach; (2) status Department Defense research development programs generation, distribution, energy storage, systems integration flight testing; (3) description some Force's planned activities subsystems; (4) dual use nature many these enable variety hybrid electrically-propelled military weapon commercial vehicles.