ABSTRACT
This chapter considers comparisons of reliability characteristics for all possible topologies of the helicopter traction drive. It presents the results of a reliability analysis of a hybrid-electric helicopter and a full-electric helicopter traction drive with different topologies. The conventional Airbus helicopter EC135 with two gas turbine engines has been selected as the comparative platform. The configurations of hybrid-electric powertrains are usually serial hybrid, parallel hybrid, and combined hybrid. As the comparative prototype, the propulsion architecture of the Airbus helicopter EC135 consists of a fuel tank, two gas turbine engines, a gearbox and a propeller. The comparative results of failure probability between conventional and full-electric propulsion systems. The failure probability of the dual-electric traction drive topologies is always lower than the conventional topology. The comparative results between full-electric and conventional propulsion system show that using redundancy technology is useful to improve the system reliability.
