Getting Blood from Outback Joe – the 2016 Outback Challenge

Dean Sigler Electric Aircraft Components, Electric Aircraft Materials, Electric Powerplants, Hybrid Aircraft, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Outback Joe goes through a lot of trauma in his overstuffed life.  This literal straw man gets tossed into some remote part of the Australian outback every year and waits for some kind of rescue.  This usually comes by air, drones searching for him and taking him medicine, food, water, or some other necessity.  That’s the Outback Challenge. One can see a condensed history of the competition from its inception in 2007 to today on Wikipedia, the entry including the different kinds of things Outback Joe needed for a mission to be successful. This year, however, competitors were supposed to bring back a reminder of their visit to Joe – a blood sample – a good trick from an inanimate being who might answer to “Hay!” Richard Glassock, now a Research Fellow at the Institute for Aerospace Technology, the University of Nottingham, describes the vision and how it has grown up. “The competition Rod Walker and I first discussed about …

Frogworks Unleashes Delta – the World’s Lightest Electric Paraglider Trike

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Students at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have a history of creating ultra-lightweight flying machines that are also green – floating around on electric power.  Their earlier effort, Snowstorm, a 24-rotor, single-person lifting device, so far has hovered only indoors. Eight engineering students, working within the school’s “Frogworks” program, have escaped into the great outdoors with their Delta, the world’s lightest electric paraglider – according to the school. With two eight-kilowatt electric motors, four 14S lithium polymer battery packs, and tricycle landing gear, the Delta weighs in at 49 kilograms (107.8 pounds) empty weight.  Delta can carry a 75-kilogram (165 pound) pilot.  Cleverly constructed of carbon fiber and aluminum, the craft is claimed to be “the lightest aircraft in the world that can take off and land with wheels while carrying an adult pilot.” Fourth in a series of vehicles designed and built by NUS students in the Design-Centric Program (DCP) at the NUS Faculty of Engineering, the Delta …

Madagascar Medicine Meets the Green Flight Challenge

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In the Small World category, the team leader of the 2011 Green Flight Challenge winning team is designing the next generation of a drone that can carry blood and stool samples from remote and otherwise inaccessible parts of Madagascar to a central laboratory where the samples can be analyzed.  Jack Langelaan, Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, is working with Vayu Aircraft to develop a vertical takeoff and landing machine specially crafted to meet the needs of the ValBio Centre. The video shows an early version of the drone, while pictures on Vayu’s web site depict a sleeker, more refined approach.  The functionality for both machines would seem to be identical, but the styling for the projected future version is far more “marketable.” Dr. Peter Small, Founding Director of Stony Brook’s Global Health Institute, sees the flights as a win-win for drones and villagers. “The flights to and from villages in the Ifanadiana district [of Madagascar] ushers in …

NASA Tests Pipistrel Systems To Aid Electric X-plane Program

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Taja Boscarol of Pipistrel in Slovenia relays the information that NASA has tested Pipistrel’s electric propulsion system as part of its electric flight research for the X-57 program.  It would seem reasonable to start by checking out Pipistrel’s well-tested motor package, one of the few that comes with fully-matched controller, batteries, and ancillary gear. NASA performed its tests on its 13.5-foot Airvolt stand at the Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California.  Heavily instrumented, the Airvolt stand collects data through “high-fidelity sensors,” and transmits the collected information to a data acquisition unit that processes, records, and filters the measurements.  NASA and Pipistrel should be able to make good use of this data. Normally installed on the Taurus Electro G2 motorglider, the Roman Susnik designed motor produces 40 kilowatts (53.6 hp.) at low rpm while producing high torque, an ideal combination for rapid climbs to soaring altitude. NASA will collect “torque and thrust measurements, high-fidelity voltage analysis, power …

A Quiet Air Force Spreading Commerce and Knowledge

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Two years ago, Mark Zuckerberg, the head of Facebook, promised a far-reaching goal for his firm. ”Today, we’re sharing some details of the work Facebook’s Connectivity Lab is doing to build drones, satellites and lasers to deliver the internet to everyone. ”Our goal with Internet.org is to make affordable access to basic internet services available to every person in the world.” We reported on this activity almost a year ago, and provided technical details that are coming to fruition with the first flight of the Aquila drone, a large flying wing that looks a great deal like the Prandtl-D research vehicle designed by Al Bowers and a group of graduate students.  A primary difference – Facebook’s machine has winglets or tip rudders to assist in directional control. The Facebook video shows the highlights, but the following video from the BBC gives more detail and insights from Jay Parikh, head of global engineering for Facebook. Note that the launch vehicle has additional motors …

Kreisel Brothers – Austrian Entrepreneurs

Dean Sigler Batteries, Electric Aircraft Components, Solar Power, Sustainable Aviation 4 Comments

We keep hoping for the long-awaited 10X, or even 5X battery that would make electric aviation “pop” in a significant way.  The Kreisel brothers in Austria are not developing new batteries or chemistries, but through careful design and manufacturing techniques, manage to reduce weight in their battery packages – one example being the two “ultra-lightweight battery units” they supply for PC-Aero’s Elektra One.  With a total weight of “just 64 kilograms,” (140.8 pounds), the packs “provide [an] efficient and reliable energy supply for a range of 400 kilometers (248 miles)… a flight duration of three hours [and a] speed of 160 kilometers per hour (99.2 mph).” Each pack stores 5.8 kilowatt-hours of electrical energy, or 5.52 kw-hr./kg.  That’s roughly an eight-percent savings over the Teslas’s battery, if all else is equal.  It might be a harder number to achieve in a small package, there probably being a certain irreducible minimum of things that weigh down the small package disproportionately more …

Siemens 260 kW Motor First Flight, and a Siemens at the 2016 SAS

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Siemens Motors announced the first public flight of their SP260D motor in an Extra 330LE aerobatic aircraft – although the motor had made its maiden, but not so public, flight on June 24.  Putting out 260 kilowatts (348.5 horsepower) in near silence according to Siemens, the motor will certainly be capable of putting the Extra through its paces. The motor weighs only 50 kilograms (110 pounds), and with its Siemens inverter adds little weight to the nose of the Extra.  Pipistrel-designed battery packs grouped behind it push the power-pack weight toward the center of gravity, which should enhance handling qualities. As Electronics Weekly reports, “Support structures have been on a finite element analysis diet. The aluminum ‘end shield’, for example, which supports the motor end bearing and takes all the propeller forces, went from 10.5 (23.1 pounds) to 4.9kg 10.8 pounds) .”  This presentation shows the process on page 12. A finite element analysis program, NX Nastran, removed bits that …

Pikes Peak 2016 – A Record-Setting Year

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Electric vehicles did not win the Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb outright this year, but their overall showing was an indicator of how much progress designers have made in the last five years. Everyone’s a Winner! In 2011, Chip Yates rode his UQM-powered motorcycle to a record 12:50.094 time.  Part of the 12.42-mile course was dirt road then, adding to the thrills, but slowing overall times. “I felt bad for the fans that watched me through the dirt section. They saw an electric superbike going 1 mph around the hairpins in the dirt.”  He added this declaration, “We got a 12:51 time, I’ll take it, it’s plenty good for a rookie, and it’s plenty good for a home-made bike made by three volunteers.”  He removed the motor from the bike and powered a modified Long-Eze aircraft to set several world records. Astonishingly, all but five of this year’s 78 finishers (out of 97 starters) had better times than Chip’s …

A New Entry in Electric Para-Gliding

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EV World announced a new electric para-motor, complete with a new motor, composite mounts, and a series of battery pack setups.  Made in France, a complete setup with parasail, motor, controller, batteries and controls costs 14,210 euros ($16,057).  This may seem pricey, but consider that a paramotor can be carried in a pickup or SUV, needs no airport, and is truly “free flight,” avoiding a lot of the rules that encumber much of general aviation. George Blottin, the founder of Aeronature, a parasail and paramotor training site in southern France, wanted something that would avoid the noise and occasional failure of two-and-four-stroke engines.  Electric motors fit that bill, and he worked with a participant on the Airbus e-Fan project to create one that met the specialized needs of paramotoring. His firm, Exomo, can provide the 15 kilowatt motor with a variety of battery packs, ranging from a 15-minute, 25 Amp-hour unit, through a 30- to 45-minute, 45 Amp-hour pack to …

Bosch Builds e-Kart with Monster Torque

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Robert Bosch GmbH has developed an “e-kart” producing 20 kilowatts from two motor-generators, and 300 Newton-meters (221 foot-pounds) of torque, a number Bosch refers to as “sporting.” It would be nice to know how much this cart weighs, but Autoweek relates, “The only thing Bosch isn’t saying for now is just how long the e-kart can run on that battery, assuming 10/10ths driving, and how much the battery and powertrain weigh.” Otherwise, we know the e-Kart goes from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph) in under five seconds and can squeal its tires “with just a tap of the pedal.”  A guesstimate of 400 pounds for the total vehicle and driver weight would probably not be too far off the mark, making the acceleration figures seem reasonable. A collaboration of Bosch, FIA Electric, the New Energy Commission, and the German Motorsport Association (DMSB), the e-Kart was presented as part of a Formula E display on May 21, 2016.  …