Australia supplies 3,000 kilometers (1,860 miles) of smooth road and abundant sunshine every year for the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge that bisects the country north to south. Growing in numbers annually, this year’s five-day race drew 47 teams from 25 countries, with two teams from the Netherlands, one from the University of Michigan in the United States and one from Tokai University in Japan trading the lead almost daily and battling it out for the first four places in the Challenger Class with daily consistency. University of Delft students had their second win in two years, while rivals from the University of Twente (the Netherlands) achieved a very strong second place overall. The University of Michigan’s team was a consistent third-place contender, only to be bested at the end by Tokai’s final sprint. Even at 3,000 kilometers, Nuon and Solar Team Twente were just over two and a half minutes apart. Delft’s car traveled the 3002 kilometers in 37 hours, 56 …
G4 to HY4 – Swapping Batteries for Fuel Cells
The University of Stuttgart and Pipistrel started down similar paths around 2007, with the Stuttgarters attempting a hydrogen-powered two-seat aircraft, the Hydrogenius; and Pipistrel developing a self-launching craft with either two-stroke power or an equivalent electric motor. The two groups came to rely on one another, with hydrogenius using the forward fuselage and wings of the Taurus G2 with hydrogen tanks in the fuselage and a Sineton motor on the tail. On February 27, 2008, Professor Rudolf Voit-Nitschmann, the father of the solar powered aircraft Icare 2 and the unofficial World Record holder for distance flown in a solar powered aircraft, along with dipl. ing. Steffen Geinitz and dipl. ing. Len Schumann met with Pipistrel leaders, including CEO Ivo Boscarol and designer Tine Tomazic at the company headquarters in Ajdovscina. Because the area aft of the wing was different for the Pipistrel G2 and Hyrogenius, the fuselages looked entirely different. Hydrogenius used the volume behind the wing to stow the H2 …
EAS IX: David Calley’s Innovative Design and Use of Electric Motors
David Calley is member of the CAFE Foundation Advisory Board, with a great deal of technical expertise to offer. His small wind turbine sold over 150,000 units. His patented design for the TrailerTail® increases fuel economy on semi-trucks and trailers by 5.4 percent at 65 miles per hour, according to SAE tests. Last year at EAS VIII, he showed the potential for small motors with incredible torque that could power Sky Taxis. At this year’s EAS IX he described, in depth, the type of motor design he has been developing to power things like his three-wheel electric/pedal-powered commuter vehicle and landing-gear wheels on Sky Taxis and even rocket fuel pumps. He asked the not-too-rhetorical questions, “How high can electric motor power go?” and “Where do these forces come from?” His answers took attendees on a high-level look at electromagnetic and permanent magnet (PM) materials theories. Electric motors rely on interactions between fields to produce power. “Fields” in this case are …
A Lighter, Zippier Tire for Electric Airplanes?
Tires are not usually the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of airplane design. On most aircraft, the landing gear is an awkward necessity, something to help one get airborne and settle on after committing aviation. Our future electric aircraft might have power-driven wheels to shorten takeoff and landing distances, making them less inconvenient and more beneficial. Conventional rubber tires and wheels are heavy, though, and reducing their avoirdupois would enable better performance from a lighter airplane, or allow more batteries for longer range or better performance. Dr. Brien Seeley, founder and President of the CAFE Foundation, wants to visit the best of all possible tire worlds by exploring the potential of polyurethane tires, reducing the need for rubber-based tires along with eliminating the use of fossil fuels. Polyurethane tires have some advantages worth exploring, while we maintain some objectivity about the reasons we don’t see more of them on our cars, for instance. Rubber tires are weighty …
EAS IX: Dr. Seeley’s Magnum Opus
Your editor first met Dr. Brien Seeley, founder and President of the CAFE Foundation, at the Western Workshop for the Experimental Soaring Association in 2007. Dr. Seeley spoke about the CAFE Foundation and its many areas of research, including its first two Electric Aircraft Symposiums. Seven years later these events and this blog are among the few resources for people seeking information on this developing field. He spoke then about a novel idea, an aerial taxi service that would eventually become fully autonomous, hauling people on short-to-medium range trips in small, electric aircraft that would fly out of very small airports. This seemed a bit of science-fiction at the time, but Dr. Seeley has continued to promote this idea, gaining valuable allies and convincing growing numbers that this is a practical alternative to the wasteful clogs on our nation’s highways, taking their toll on time, treasure and the human spirit. At this year’s Electric Aircraft Symposium, he shared the mature …
e-Genius Crosses the Alps on Battery Power – Twice!
It makes your editor’s morning to receive such wonderful emails. Dipl. Ing. Ingmar Geiß, Deputy Project Manager for Overall Aircraft Systems on e-Genius wrote the following: “We had a great Saturday – we flew from Stuttgart over the Alps to Italy, recharged the batteries and flew back on the same day! For us, this shows the practicability of battery powered aircraft and we think this is a milestone towards an eco-friendly and efficient aviation.” The e-Genius web page on the University of Stuttgart site expands on the story, describing the flight’s accomplishment. “A milestone towards an energy efficient and carbon-neutral aviation has been reached.” While Americans rested up for their Fourth of July festivities, “Saturday morning, the electric aircraft “e-Genius” flew from the airfield Hahnweide near Stuttgart over the Alps to Italy. On its way to the north-Italian airfield Calcinate del Pesce, the hi-tech aircraft had to cover a distance of 320 kilometers (198.4 miles) and climbed to an altitude …
Green Speed Cup Final: a Mix of Well-Flown Aircraft
Day three of the Green Speed Cup in Strausberg, Germany brought few surprises other than how fuel efficient all of the aircraft turned out to be, especially considering they are all powered by gasoline engines. Normally, this would demonstrate that even a light machine uses large amounts of fuel, but this contest demonstrated the benefits of good design and careful piloting. The Akaflieg Darmstadt D39 flown by Holger Massow came in first, winning the last two days outright. Second went to Hans-Peter Ortwein flying a Stemme SV-10T, and third, perhaps surprisingly, to the only two-stroke powered machine, a Technoflug Piccolo, a fixed-gear, high-wing motorglider with an engine sticking up behind the wing. The Piccolo was flown by Werner Scholz. Two Valentin Taifuns came in fourth and fifth, and a Stemme S6 took sixth place. Two Scheibe SF-25s, a B and C model, took seventh and eighth places respectively. A Fournier RF-5 captured ninth place and another SF-25-C rounded out the …
Good News and a Bright Future from EAS IX
Sitting next to your editor for the first day of CAFE’s ninth annual Electric Aircraft Symposium, Paul Bertorelli from AVweb, took copious notes, made sound recordings, and during coffee and lunch breaks and in after-hours sessions, interviewed the accomplished faculty at the Symposium. His thorough and far-reaching reports appear in his last several days’ postings to AVweb. Having stressed mightily while attempting to take understandable notes from each speaker’s talk, your editor can only be impressed by Paul’s super reportorial abilities, and his communicating the scope and importance of what took place at EAS IX. From your editor’s perspective, several significant things took place this year. Senior leadership from Airbus and Siemens presented talks affirming their companies’ commitment to making progress in electric aviation, with future plans to develop two and four-seat aircraft for European and American markets from Airbus, and to produce a range of light-weight, commercially-available motors from Siemens. Siemens has 343,000 employees worldwide and revenues of 101.2 …
Carplane Makes a Comeback
The German firm Carplane made an entry into the media a few years ago, especially when it compared its bi-modal flying car with a Burt Rutan design. That started a brief kerfuffle of edgy comparisons between the two groups, but no necessary winner. Now, having shown at least a finished and apparently drivable vehicle at Aero 2015, Carplane has renewed prominence in the media. And the blog brings it all back, prepared for less-than-flattering comments. Stating what may stir others to contend for their rival mounts, Carplane makes a bold claim. (The italicized and bolded word is Carplane’s emphasis.) “Flying cars will soon be a reality. And Carplane® is the world’s only flying car currently undergoing formal certification. Watch this page as we complete the process.” Some of the “automated” features on the design as originally conceived included a wing that pivoted out from its storage between the twin fuselages and attached itself to the central assembly. The builders have apparently retained that …
e-Genius Extends Its Range
Shown at the E-Flight Expo at Friedrichshafen’s Aero 2015, Stuttgart University’s e-Genius had an aerodynamic-looking pod next to one wing, containing an ENGIRO range extender consisting of a Wankel-type engine and a generator. The unit could, as its name implies, help e-Genius go for new records to add to its already significant collection. Bill Lofton at EV Hangar has detailed the extender, now associated with the e-Genius and in a larger variant on the Equator P2 amphibian being built in Norway by Tomas Broedreskift. Equator’s web site describes its power system: “The hybrid propulsion system being developed by Equator is called EHPS (Equator Hybrid Propulsion System). The engine specific project is being co-funded by Transnova and the company doing the development work with us on this is ENGIRO. We will design a custom engine and generator specified specifically for the P2. Power out in the prop is 100kW (approx. 130HP) and the generator will produce 57-60kW of power charging the batteries. The combustion …