Integrated power and thermal management modelling in hybrid propulsion architectures
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Date
2026-06-22
Authors
Αποστόλου, Στυλιανός
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Abstract
Aircraft propulsion is a key element for decarbonising aviation. For this, there is an ongoing activity in aircraft electrification and a move to More-Electric and Hybrid-Electric Aircraft create significant challenges in Thermal Management due to the high power density and increased heat loads of the electrical propulsion systems. The secure and efficient operation of components such as motors, converters, inverters, and batteries requires advanced Thermal Management Systems (TMS) Architectures capable of maintaining operating temperatures within desired limits with the least possible energy and aerodynamic costs. In this thesis project, an entire Integrated Power and Thermal Management System (IPTMS) was
implemented, combining modelling of both the electrical power components and the thermal management system. The methodology was based on a dynamic simulation of a mission-based operation in MATLAB/Simulink, accounting for time-varying heat loads, coolant mass flows, hydraulic losses, pumping power consumption, and thermal limits on critical components.
Initially, a baseline active-cooling architecture based on a cold-plate cooling system with multiple cooling loops was implemented. Subsequently, the implementation of PCM in selected components was investigated, with the aim of serving as thermal buffers that absorb latent heat. A parametric study of PCM mass was conducted, indicating that an increase in mass does not always lead to optimised thermal efficiency, as the rise in thickness limits the heat conduction rate in the PCM. This result highlighted a compromise between thermal capacity and thermal response.In parallel, a Jet Impingement cooling model for the inverter was developed and assessed to enhance local heat transfer in high-heat-flux areas. This technology reduced the inverter's maximum temperature and the pumping energy required by the main cooling loop, but, on the other hand, increased hydraulic losses and the heat-rejection demand on the heat exchanger side.
Finally, a hybrid cooling architecture combining Phase Change Materials (PCM) and Jet Impingement cooling was proposed and evaluated. The results demonstrated that the hybrid configuration provided the most effective overall thermal management performance, reducing the total pumping energy by approximately 71.35% compared to the baseline cold-plate architecture, while maintaining all critical component temperatures within their allowable operating limits. The implementation of Jet Impingement reduced the inverter peak temperature from 148°C to 145°C and decreased the average coolant mass flow rate in the motor–inverter loop by 54.61%, whereas the PCM integration reduced the total BC-loop pumping energy by approximately 39,52% compared to the baseline cold-plate architecture, These findings highlight that the design of Thermal Management Systems for hybrid-electric aircraft constitutes a complex multi-objective optimisation problem in which thermal performance must be evaluated simultaneously with hydraulic losses, pumping power requirements, system mass and integration constraints.
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Keywords
Integrated power and thermal management systems, Electrical components in hybrid electric aircraft, Hybrid-electric aircraft architectures, Aircraft thermal management systems, More electric aircraft, Hybrid-electric aircraft, Passive cooling techniques, Phase changing materials in aircrafts, Active cooling methods, Cold plate cooling in aircrafts, Jet impingement in aircrafts, Advanced cooling methods, Hybrid cooling architectures in aircrafts, Thermal loads in aircraft systems, System integration and optimization, Power and thermal management systems, Electrified aircraft propulsion, Thermal management trade-offs, Smart thermal management systems