Speakers - tbd

Advancements and Challenges in Hybrid-Electric Aircraft Powertrains: Insights from the NEWBORN Project

This presentation will deliver an overview of recent advancements in hybrid-electric aircraft powertrain development. It will address various approaches to electrification, with particular attention to hierarchical system control methods, integration among multiple subsystems, and strategies for managing aircraft power, energy, and system efficiency. The discussion will identify critical challenges facing aircraft electrification, including weight limitations, thermal management concerns, battery technology constraints, differing approaches to ensure reliability between mechanical and electric systems, and high-voltage system resilience against partial discharge. Furthermore, the presentation will outline challenges associated with adopting hydrogen as the primary fuel source. Preliminary findings and insights gained from the NEWBORN project will be presented. A summary will provide recommendations for future research and identify remaining fundamental scientific gaps.

Short Bio:
Ondrej Kotaba is the Fellow at Honeywell Aerospace, responsible for sustainable aircraft propulsion technology. With over 20 years of industrial experience, he currently provides technical leadership to the Clean Aviation project NEWBORN. Ondrej has previously coordinated various research projects on aerospace high voltage systems, high reliability controls, and high power density electronics. His past contributions include work in signal processing, real-time multicore processing, and others. Ondrej’s alma mater is the Brno University of Technology. He is an author or multiple patents and a holder of private pilot license.