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The issue of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transportation sector is widely acknowledged. Recent years have witnessed a push towards the electrification of cars, with many considering it the optimal solution to address this problem. However, the substantial battery packs utilized in electric vehicles contribute to a considerable embedded ecological footprint. Research has highlighted that, depending on the vehicle's size, tens or even hundreds of thousands of kilometers are required to offset this environmental burden. Human-powered vehicles (HPVs), thanks to their smaller size, are inherently much cleaner means of transportation, yet their limited speed impedes widespread adoption for mid-range and long-range trips, favoring cars, especially in rural areas. This paper addresses the challenge of HPV speed, limited by their low input power and non-optimal distribution of the resistive forces.

Many research centers and companies in general aviation have been devoting efforts to the electrification of propulsive plants to reduce environmental impact and/or increase safety. Even if the final goal is the elimination of fossil fuels, the limitations of today's battery in terms of energy and power densities suggest the adoption of hybrid-electric solutions that combine the advantages of conventional and electric propulsive systems, namely reduced fuel consumption, high peak power, and increased safety deriving from redundancy. Today, lithium batteries are the best commercial option for the electrification of all means of transportation. However, lithium batteries are a family of technologies that presents a variety of specifications in terms of gravimetric and volumetric energy density, discharge and charge currents, safety, and cost.

Aviation industry is striving to leverage the technological advancements in connectivity, computation and data analytics. Scalable and robust connectivity enables futuristic applications like smart cabins, prognostic health management (PHM) and AI/ML based analytics for effective decision making leading to flight operational efficiency, optimized maintenance planning and aircraft downtime reduction. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are gaining prominence on the aircraft for providing large scale connectivity solution that are essential for implementing various health monitoring applications like Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), Prognostic Health Management (PHM), etc. and control applications like smart lighting, smart seats, smart lavatory, etc. These applications help in improving passenger experience, flight operational efficiency, optimized maintenance planning and aircraft downtime reduction.

Continuous improvements and innovations towards sustainability in the aviation industry has brought interest in electrified aviation. Electric aircrafts have short missions in which the temporal variability of thermal loads are high. Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have emerged as prominent power source candidate for electric aircrafts and Urban Air Mobility (UAM). UAMs and Electric aircrafts have large battery packs with battery capacity ranging in hundreds or thousands of kWh. If the battery is exposed to temperatures outside the optimum range, the life and the performance of the battery reduces drastically. Hence, it is crucial to have a Thermal Management System (TMS) which would reduce the heat load on battery in addition to cabin, and machinery thermal loads. Thermal management can be done through active or passive cooling. Adding a passive cooling system like Phase Change Material (PCM) to the TMS reduces the design maximum thermal loads.

SAE EDGE Research Reports provide examinations significant topics facing mobility industry today including Connected Automated Vehicle Technologies Electrification Advanced Manufacturing

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SAE EDGE Research Reports provide examinations significant topics facing mobility industry today including Connected Automated Vehicle Technologies Electrification Advanced Manufacturing

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SAE EDGE Research Reports provide examinations significant topics facing mobility industry today including Connected Automated Vehicle Technologies Electrification Advanced Manufacturing

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SAE EDGE Research Reports provide examinations significant topics facing mobility industry today including Connected Automated Vehicle Technologies Electrification Advanced Manufacturing