Recent Advances in Converters and Storage Technologies for More Electric Aircrafts: A Review

The transportation sector contributes significantly toward greenhouse gas emission in the significant proportion that impacts the environmental adversely. The electrical transportation sector has grown tremendously in the past decade in order to reduce the fuel consumption. Not only road transportation but air transportation is being gradually electrified. More electrical aircrafts (MEAs) and all electric aircrafts (AEAs) are the two segments that are undergoing an electrical revolution. The key idea of moving toward MEA and AEA is to reduce environmental pollution by reducing fuel consumption and weight, and increasing the overall efficiency of the aircraft. In MEA, the hydraulic and pneumatic energy systems onboard are converted to their electrical counterpart. This concept has opened up a wide range of research in the field of power electronics, electrical machine technologies, energy management, battery management system, stability, and reliability. This article presents a review of the recent advancements in MEAs discussed with respect to the power distribution architecture, converter technologies, and battery technologies suitable for use in MEA.