The Green Speed Cup – Fourth Edition

Dean Sigler Diesel Powerplants, Electric Powerplants, GFC, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

Robert Adam helps run the Green Speed Cup, a time, speed and economy run for aircraft in Germany.  The rules for this year’s contest elucidate the intent and ambitions for the event: “The GREEN SPEED CUP is an aviation competition focusing on efficient flight. The emphasis lies on fast and energy saving transportation. The competition is meant to develop new methods to reduce energy consumption of motor driven aircraft using external energy sources like lateral winds and updrafts. In making the ability of certain aircraft and techniques transparent, the competition shall set new standards in general aviation.” The Cup provides a sounding board for discussion of energy efficient flight and the changing experience of flying while exploring new techniques and technologies.  Hosted by STEMME Aviators e.V., the contest is open to “all aircraft capable of taking off under their own power,” with the following restrictions: In the Electric Class, airplanes may have one to four seats, weigh up to 2,700 …

The Personal Aircraft Design Academy – IMPORTANT UPDATE!

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Brien A.Seeley M.D., PADA Program Chair and President of the CAFE Foundation, sends the following invitation. The highlight of Oshkosh AirVenture for me each year is the Personal Aircraft Design Academy (PADA), whose casual, delicious, catered buffet ‘networking’ dinner is followed by its colloquium for leading aircraft designers, enthusiasts and aero engineers.  Several of the renowned previous PADA Trophy recipients are expected to dine and attend PADA 2014, where we will reveal and honor the 12th annual recipient of the perpetual PADA Trophy.  For 2014, the presentation program will feature two exciting new aircraft: Richard Hogan from Commutercraft  will present ‘The Innovator—a New 3–‐surface Aircraft’ and Oliver Garrow will present the technical details of a new tilt‐wing VTOL aircraft—the Elytron.” The 2014 PADA dinner will be at 6:15 PM on Friday August 1, at the large, white Nature Tent #3, which is in the wooded area about ¼ mile East of the EAA Museum. The PADA colloquium presentations, which are open …

Irena Raymond on Flying the Sunseeker Duo

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A few days after posting the entry on the Raymond’s first cross country flight in their new solar-powered Sunseeker Duo, your editor received followups from Irena and Eric.  First, Irena shares her impressions of what sounds like a beautiful flight. “Our XC flight with Duo was a great experience. “First of all, because I don’t like too many surprises, I tried to prepare myself as best as possible for this expedition. I was studying the aeronautical chart to get more familiar with the Italian airspace and possible restrictions, looking also at the terrain and possible out landings (just in case. of course). “And then the day of our flight was coming, bringing us a clear, sunny morning. At the noon time, there was not much thermal activity at our area, but far in the mountains we saw towering cumulus. And the GO decision was done. “Everything went smoothly; with the help of the motor we reached first soarable hills. We …

An Electric Altitude Record in Short Sleeves

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

Gary Davis of Greenville, South Carolina set a world altitude record for electric trikes, about the simplest of powered flying machines.  His flight to 4,790 feet above mean sea level (under 4,000 feet above ground level) exceeded his hope to reach at least 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) and puts him and power system provider Randall Fishman in the record books, at least when the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) ratifies the numbers. Davis, a managing director in Nachman Norwood & Parrot Wealth Management Consultancy in Greenville, has that affiliation discreetly emblazoned on his North Wing Stratus wing.  The company, possibly because of Davis’s interest, has 25 kilowatts of solar panels helping power its offices, and Davis and wife Deborah Meadows both drive electric cars.  In a telephone interview, he pointed toward Greenville as the home of Prottera electric buses, a point of local pride. He explained the simple flight profile he maintained, a quick takeoff, steep climb and circling in thermals …

EAS VIII: Bruno Mombrinie and Dr. Brien Seeley – Economies and Practical Considerations for Sky Taxis

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, GFC, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Bruno Mombrinie, a director for the CAFE Foundation, and Dr. Brien Seeley, founder and President of the organization, gave a one-two presentation on pocket airports and Sky Taxis that examined the practical and operational facets of such a program, first described in detail in a joint NASA/CAFE Foundation document.  According to Bruno’s CAFE biography, “As a freshman, he helped build MIT’s Chrysalis human powered airplane. Later that summer he got to fly the plane several times. ‘The feeling of being so, so high (39ft)…to fly under my own power was beyond…I just wanted to burst…actually I was so out of breath from the effort, I could hardly mouth ‘yippee!’”  (The Chrysalis, and other MIT designs led to Daedalus, the HPA that flew from Crete to Sicily on April 23, 1988 – 72.44 miles in less than four hours.) This experience with extreme pedal power probably helped inspire his work on the Negative Mass two-piece crankset, reputedly the world’s lightest and stiffest bicycle crankset.  His …

The Raymonds Make the First Two-Passenger Solar-Powered Cross Country Flight

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Eric Raymond shared this story of a short cross-country flight between his home field of Voghera, Italy and the town of Pavullo, about 100 air miles away.  It’s significant in being the first cross-country solar-powered flight for two, Eric’s wife Irena sharing flying duties.  The “normal” nature of the trip and the practicality of the airplane show that Eric is expanding his pioneering efforts from his initial flight across the United States in 1990 and his trip across the Alps in 2009 – all on solar power.   He’s received precious little attention in the press for these sublime journeys, a situation we hope to redeem here. “Irena and I just returned from an overnight trip in our new plane, our first experience traveling in it. “We set our goal to be easy, only 100 miles away, and in the conditions we could have flown twice that far, both ways. “Climbing over the clouds on our way, we enjoyed a tailwind …

Decorated Anodes Make Light Work of a Fast Charge

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Most stories featuring this scientific couple’s (and a few associates’) work focused on the 10-minute charging time for their portable electronics batteries.  More interesting to those who look forward to applying this technology in electric vehicles, the three-dimensional, silicon-decorated, cone-shaped carbon-nanotube cluster architecture for lithium ion battery anodes enables a “63 percent increase of total cell capacity and a battery that is 40 percent lighter and smaller.”  “Than what?” your editor’s high school math teacher would have insisted.  The decorated item would be 63 percent better at holding a charge and 40 percent lighter and smaller than a similar cell with a graphite anode common to many lithium-ion batteries.  Even though the researchers concentrated on the anode and seemed not to take a more holistic approach to battery design, the overall results seem promising. Husband and wife team Cengiz S. Ozkan, a mechanical engineering professor at UC Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering; and Mihrimah Ozkan, an electrical engineering professor, worked with …

June is a Happy Month for Electric Motorsports

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With only half the month gone and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb scheduled on its last week, June 2014 has seen records crumble at the Isle of Man TT and hybrid electrical technology dominate at the 80th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The electric part of the classic road race on the tight little island between Britain and Northern Ireland saw new records for the 37 mile spin around the southern roadways – like the Le Man circuit, otherwise public roads usually dominated by farm vehicles and passenger cars. Ohio State University’s Buckeye Racing Team ran a modified Honda CBR1000RR frame with a motor by Roman Susnik, the Slovenian who also designed the motors used in the Pipistrel G2 self-launching motorglider.  They ran a respectable third place, a great accomplishment for a college team up against the might of the winning Honda Mugen.  John McGuinness rode that $4.3 million racer to set a lap record of …

EAS VIII: Precision Autonomous Synchrophasing of Electric Propellers

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Dr. Krish Ahuja, Regents Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) helped attendees at the eighth annual Electric Aircraft Symposium understand an unusual set of problems by starting off with an explanation of acoustics for non-acousticians.  His credentials, impressive as they are, are more than matched by his ability to help those outside his specialty understand his discipline. According to his Georgia Tech web page, “Dr. Ahuja is a former associate editor of the AIAA Journal and also a former Chairman of the AIAA Aeroacoustics Technical Committee. Dr. Ahuja has authored or co-authored over 180 technical articles or reports on a range of topics including acoustic shielding, fan noise, active flow control, flow/acoustic interactions, jet noise, cavity noise, automobile noise, sonic boom research, psychoacoustics, high-temperature fiber optics strain gauges, acoustic transducers, active noise control, tilt rotor noise, source separation, acoustic fatigue, duct acoustics, computational aeroacoustics, innovative flow visualization techniques, tornado signatures, rapid charging of batteries and others.” He ran …

NTSB Releases Initial Report, Recommendations on Dreamliner Battery Fires

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January 2013 was a time of great concern for operators of the Boeing 787 “Dreamliner.” On the 7th, an empty 787 operated by Japan Airlines experienced a fire in the main battery pack.  On the 16th, an All Nippon Airways 787 made an emergency landing and evacuated everyone on board on emergency slides after the flight crew responded to a computer warning of smoke inside one of the electrical compartments.  Other incidents pointed to issues in the use and transport of lithium-ion batteries such as those used in the big Boeing. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has directed several recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), derived from the agency’s ongoing investigation of the Japan Airlines incident only, at this time.  Certainly the ongoing investigation of the All Nippon flight incident will merit a separate report. Despite the fact that many industry “insiders” have offered opinions as to how Boeing should have designed and constructed the two lithium-ion battery …