Hardware Design for an Efficient Inverter used in Electric Aircraft Power Systems

This presentation concerns the development of a mechanical packaging for a 250-kW scaled up version of the High-Efficiency Electrified Aircraft Thermal Research (HEATheR) 72-kW inverter. Design considerations were made for the hardware to be used at the NASA Electric Aircraft Testbed (NEAT) at Plum brook Station. The packaging was designed to be actively cooled by existing equipment, withstand all coolant pressures, and be sealed against 40,000 ft of elevation. All of this had to be accomplished while staying under a mass budget. Although the design has not yet been built or tested, finite element analysis models have appeared promising and show that the packaging is resistant to failure under operating conditions.