Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1510154
mouser.com/te 37 Powering the Future of Flight Accelerating innovations in Advanced Air Mobility with high power, high voltage interconnect solutions Russ Graves, Global Aerospace Business Development Manager, TE Connectivity Providing power management solutions for the electric flight revolution F or over 75 years, TE Connectivity's (TE's) global technology and manufacturing leadership has been empowering customers with a wide range of connectivity and sensing products for aviation, aerospace, automotive, and defense applications. As a go-to innovation partner, TE offers this overview of an evolving portfolio of products that can handle the significant power requirements of electric flight. Opportunities The sky is the limit for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) projects, which are inspiring revolutionary innovations in electric flight. However, as with electric and hybrid-electric aircraft in general, electric-powered vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, rotorcraft, commercial drones, and personal air vehicles (PAVs) employ significant amounts of electrical power to enable vehicle takeoff and maintain flight. As a result, designers face many electrical interconnect challenges when handling high voltages and high-kW peak output for electric propulsion motors, inverters, controllers, batteries, infotainment, and sensors. To deploy successful prototypes and products rapidly, designers benefit by understanding these challenges and how to "follow-the-wire" using TE technologies and expertise to solve them. Challenges At the beginning of a design project, it's valuable to view interconnects holistically as part of the system rather than as a last-minute afterthought. EVERY CONNECTION COUNTS for data and for power. Over the years, specific products have been introduced—and new designs continue to be developed—to handle power challenges encountered in electric flight. Advanced solutions from TE provide capabilities that include: Preventing Partial Electrical Discharge Managing high power is easier on the ground than in the air. That's because high voltage can ionize air, which can become conductive to produce a corona discharge. The corona effect is responsible for electrical power losses through voids, cavities, and electrical treeing as insulation breaks down. Electrical arcing is the likely result. Occurrences of corona discharge can be minimized by selecting proper insulating materials.