Dr. Brien Seeley, Founder and President of the CAFE Foundation, has been giving a series of talks at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture 2013, before a gathering of technical experts at NASA’s Dryden Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force and at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) International Powered Lift Conference in Los Angeles. The International Powered Lift Conference focuses on the latest developments in Vertical or Short Takeoff and Landing (V/STOL) aircraft research, concepts, and programs, something of great interest to CAFE in its development of airplanes capable of using pocket airports. Pocket Airports will require a special type of airplane – electric, according to Dr. Seeley, and capable of taking off with a ground roll of 90 feet (home plate to first base), able to climb at an angle that would clear the 150-foot Matterhorn at Disneyland by the time it reaches the end of a 420-foot runway, and being nearly inaudible as it crosses the …
A Tea Room in the Sky
Richard Glassock is an Australian graduate student and designer working in autonomous aircraft, long-distance sailboats, and a light hybrid power system made from off-the-shelf model aircraft components. He’s even made a design study of something that would really cause a stir in the world of electric sailplanes. “I just want to send you some pictures of a concept model I’m working on. The idea is for a 6- seat sailplane, I thought about this 10 or 15 years ago when I first started getting to cloudbase in a hang glider. It is a magical world, particularly in an open air type vehicle: wouldn’t it be wonderful to share with friends. Now it seems to have turned out to be an 8-seat [sailplane with] twin electric propulsion. Somehow the canopy will stow for open top operations, while there is room for the bathroom, coffee machine, oven etc. Designed for cloudbase tea and scones [or a] gliding chess club with excellent views, …
ElectraFlyer’s Near Future Plans
ElectraFlyer’s Randall Fishman and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University were the lone inhabitants with aircraft on hand at the “green aviation” display at Sun n’ Fun, exhibiting the modified Stemme and the ElectraFlyer “C” respectively. Having been within a few displays’ distance from the Thursday tornado that destroyed 69 aircraft, damaged many others, and dismantled marquees all around, they were probably fortunate to be there at all. Having decided to leave his two-seat ElectaFlyer X back at the shop, Randall had his four-year-old ElectraFlyer on hand, an airplane which hides what he describes as the only currently available electric motor, controller, instrumentation, custom propeller hub, and battery package in its neatly cowled nose, and which has been available for years before Yuneec and Pipistrel announced their systems. He avoids the term, “Plug and Play” because he’s wary of using connector plugs to carry high amperage and high-frequency between the motor and controller, preferring battery cable lugs and bolts for secure connections. …
Are Ultracapacitors Ready for Prime Time?
A January 3 article in Automotive Engineering International Online highlights the potential for ultracapacitors to take some of the battery market for vehicle power. The positive side of ultracapacitors would seem to demand their use over that of batteries. They can produce up to 10 times the power of batteries – important in acceleration. They handle temperatures down to -40°C (-40° F), something which drops battery power outputs to near uselessness in many cases. They last forever compared to batteries, can be charged in minutes as opposed to hours, and can even be recycled more fully than batteries – some of whose chemistries are toxic. Prices are dropping quickly. A 3,000-Farad ultracapacitor sold for $5,000 10 years ago. Today, it sells for $50. Battery prices have come down only 30 to 40 percent in the same time. Such a device can store 3,000 Amp-seconds of energy, meaning it could discharge 3,000 Amps at one Volt for one second. More logically, …
Sikorsky’s Project Firefly™ Electric Helicopter Demonstrator
Sikorsky Innovations, the technology development arm of Sikorsky Aircraft, revealed last week at the Farnborough International Air show and this week at AirVenture 2010, the Firefly™ Technology Demonstration Aircraft, the first all-electric helicopter. Based on an S-300C, the electrified version replaces the original Lycoming drive train with a U.S. Hybrid power package consisting of a 200 horsepower electric motor, motor controller, and 1,100-pound lithium- battery from Gaia. To monitor operations and “the health” of the craft, Sikorsky has installed an LCD display in the modified center console. One benefit of electrified helicopters would be the discarding of the traditional complex series of mechanical links between the main rotor power takeoff and the tail rotor. The tail rotor on Firefly can be powered by small electric motor linked to the main rotor’s speed output signal. The battery pack’s high weight will allow only 15 minutes of flight at first. “Our objectives with Project Firefly are to provide a proof of principle …
Dr. Stephen H. Schneider: 1945 – 2010
Dr. Stephen Schneider, Stanford University climate scientist, early advocate of climate change and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the U.N. organization that with former Vice President Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, died Monday of a heart attack while on a flight to London from a science meeting in Stockholm, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He held many post-doctoral degrees and was a scientific advisor for every president from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama. He was awarded several post-doctoral fellowships and won the prestigious MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” in 1972. He and his wife, Dr. Terry Root, shared the national Conservation Achievement Award in 1993 from the National Wildlife Federation. His web site provides an insight into this “climate warrior’s” outlook and approach. Battling the forces arrayed against even acknowledging the serious threat climate change poses to life on earth, he explained the issues in his book, Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to …
The Future is Electric, and Attracting Attention
FlightGlobal.com, the online version of Flight International Magazine, has an overview of the electric aircraft scene in its April 6, 2010 release. Among the many producers and proponents of electric flight noted in the article, Dr. Brien Seeley of the CAFE Foundation is quoted extensively, as is Calin Gologan of PC-Aero in Germany, both to present at the fourth annual Electric Aircraft Symposium, at Rohnert Park, California on April 23 and 24. The article ponders the hopes of two hybrid electric aircraft powerplant developers, George Bye, featured in a February 21 entry in this blog, and Flight Design’s Oliver Reinhardt, the firm’s technical director. Both face the issue of retrofitting existing light planes with their new engines, and the challenge of obtaining supplemental type certification for such modifications. Highlighted is the 2011 Green Flight Challenge, in which an airplane achieving 200 seat miles per gallon at 100 mph (or an alternative energy equivalent mileage) can earn the CAFE Foundation’s $1.5 …
Shaping Plastics into Inexpensive Solar Cells
Dr. Yeuh-Lin Loo, an Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering, has led a team of Princeton, University of Texas – Austin, Pennsylvania State University, University of California – Santa Barbara, and Dupont researchers in developing a conductive plastic that takes the place of expensive indium tin oxide (ITO) used in solar cells, flat-screen TVs, and other electronic devices with display screens. ITO, a byproduct of mining, is rare and expensive, but a necessity in today’s electronics. An inexpensive substitute would be desirable in bringing costs down and removing pressure from the growing demand for ITO. Loo comments on this in the Princeton press release. “The cost of indium tin oxide is skyrocketing. To bring down the costs of plastic solar cells, we need to find a replacement for ITO. Our conducting plastics allow sunlight to pass through them, making them a viable alternative.” ITO has the characteristic of allowing sunlight to pass through its transparent structure, enabling its collection and conversion …
Trikebuggy Addendum
In “Two Motors and Everything But Coffee,” our entry for February 28, we detailed Pierre-Jean Beney’s Hacker motor-powered Trikebuggy. Pierre-Jean wants to change things, including, “The motor, the prop, the battery and the wing… So I am still somewhat away from where I want to have….” Currently, it takes 2,000 propeller revolutions per minute to maintain level flight. The LiF2PO4 batteries allow a current draw of 160 Amps at 48 Volts, and will produce level flight power for about 22 minutes at this rate. These are, according to Pierre-Jean, very safe batteries, but heavy. Pierre-Jean’s new batteries are Li-Po, which will give 52 Volts at the same amperage, but are, in his estimation, less safe. They are also lighter, weighing only 6.6 kilograms (about 14.5 pounds), and have lower internal resistance. The pictures below show the relative size of the old and new batteries. You can follow Pierre-Jean’s experiments on the Trikebuggy Owners’ Yahoo Group and see additional photos of his and other Trikebuggies.
Cutting Grass with Manfred Ruhmer
Manfred Ruhmer has designed a motorized trike for the Laminar wing under which he has flown to world champion status three times, and achieved a world record flight of 701 kilometers (434.62 miles). The trike can be powered with a Simonini two-stroke or Bailey four-stroke engine, or the Geiger/Eck electric motor/controller/folding propeller combination. Here, Manfred shows off some of his world-class flying skills. Note that about 40 seconds into the video, the landing gear has picked up some vegetation. Later, at around the 2:00 mark, the streamers reappear. Whether this is from the grassy field from which Manfred flies, or some very low passes, is open to speculation. The Icaro 2000 site is useful for making some important comparisons between the IC engine options and the electric flyer. Each of the two engines’ installed weights is 18.3 kilograms (40.26 pounds), and the fuel tank for either holds 8 liters of fuel. Icaro claims both engines consume about 2 to 2.5 liters per hour, giving up …