Jonathan Litt received his BS and MS in Systems and Control Engineering from Case Western Reserve University. He has worked at NASA Glenn Research Center for over 38 years, first as an Army employee, currently as a NASA employee. The main focus of his work has been intelligent control, diagnostics, and autonomy, all related to propulsion systems. Jonathan has held technical leadership positions and been a member of the planning teams for various NASA Aeronautics programs. Jonathan has won two best paper awards (AHS and ASME), seven NASA Group Achievement Honor Awards, and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. He is an Associate Fellow of AIAA. Jonathan has published over 90 technical papers, hold two patents, and has led the development of several widely used turbine engine simulation packages.
Hybrid electric aircraft propulsion is an emerging technology that presents a variety of potential benefits along with technical integration challenges. While it offers the possibility of more efficient flight operations with reduced noise and emissions, it brings with it significantly more complexity than conventional aircraft propulsion systems. It will enable aircraft designers to employ new propulsion system arrangements that tend to be distributed, redundant, and integrated, but these concepts will require new powertrain control schemes to realize their benefits. Developing these new propulsion architectures with their complex control systems, and ultimately proving their benefit, is a multistep process that goes from concept, to analysis, to dynamic simulation, to hardware in the loop testing, to finally, full scale testing. This effort is being revolutionized by new digital tools that support the increasing technology readiness level throughout the maturation process. NASA has developed and made available a suite of digital tools that ease the path from concept to implementation. The three packages are the Toolbox for the Modeling and Analysis of Thermodynamic Systems (T-MATS), the Electrical Modeling and Thermal Analysis Toolbox (EMTAT), and the Thermal Systems Analysis Toolbox (TSAT). These tools are interactive, complementary, and compatible with each other. T-MATS is a modular thermodynamic modeling framework designed for creating custom component level models of jet engines. EMTAT is a modeling framework used to simulate a variety of power electronic devices, using both physics-based and power flow calculations. TSAT is a framework for modeling and analysis of dynamic heat transfer. These packages all consist of graphical, drag-and-drop, parameterizable building blocks representing various components of the system to be modeled, e.g., compressors, turbines, motors, energy storage devices, etc. They are designed to enable the user to model and simulate the end-to-end dynamic operation of a hybrid powertrain at the timescale of the turbomachinery, capturing mechanical, electrical, and thermal interactions. These tools have been used in several of the early stages of hybrid electric propulsion system development, from the initial system modeling to real-time interactive pilot in the loop simulation to physical hardware in the loop testing, each step bringing the technology closer to fruition. These digital tools are playing an important role in the maturation of hybrid electric propulsion systems.
Attendees will learn how a suite of digital tools can simplify the development of Hybrid Electric Aircraft Propulsion. The suite of tools is designed to enable the user to model and simulate the end-to-end dynamic operation of a hybrid powertrain at the timescale of the turbomachinery.
