In what may be eventual good news for future electric aviators, the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) will award approximately $36 million to 22 projects to develop transformational electric vehicle (EV) energy storage systems using innovative chemistries, architectures and designs. ARPA-E also uses the term, “revolutionary.” The series of awards is part of the RANGE program (Robust Affordable Next Generation Energy Storage Systems), intended “to enable a 3X increase in electric vehicle range (from ~80 to ~240 miles per charge) with a simultaneous price reduction of > 1/3 (to ~ $30,000). If successful, these vehicles will provide near cost and range parity to gasoline-powered ICE vehicles, ARPA-E said.” “Transformational” comes straight from the CAFE phrase book, a hoped-for direction that goes beyond evolution to revolution in what comes next. A 3X battery at 1/3 the price would certainly be transformational, especially in aircraft use, making even ultralights plausible, and Light Sport Aircraft truly functional. …
NASA, CAFE Aims and Goals Converge
Charles F. Bolden, Jr., a retired U. S. Marine Corps Major General, astronaut and now NASA Administrator, had enough adventures in any one of his careers to have made several who’s who lists. The twelfth administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, his previous careers included 34-years in the Marine Corps during which he spent 14 years as a member of NASA’s Astronaut Office, traveled to orbit four times on the space shuttle, deployed the Hubble Space Telescope, and flew on the first U. S.-Russian joint shuttle mission. As a Marine fighter pilot, he flew over 100 combat missions during the Vietnam conflict; and during the first half of 1998, served as Commanding General of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Forward in support of Operation Desert Thunder in Kuwait. According to his NASA biography, “Bolden’s many military decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame …
Record Conversion Efficiency for Plastic Solar Cells
Megan Fellman, reporting for Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, explains a possible breakthrough in obtaining power conversion efficiency for polymer (plastic) solar cells close to those for more expensive silicon cells. Fellman lists the benefits of the plastic cells: “Among the various photovoltaic technologies, polymer (plastic) solar cells offer unique attractions and opportunities. These solar cells contain Earth-abundant and environmentally benign materials, can be made flexible and lightweight, and can be fabricated using roll-to-roll technologies similar to how newspapers are printed. But the challenge has been improving the cells’ power-conversion efficiency.” Faculty members and students led by Professor Tobin J. Marks designed and synthesized new polymer semiconductors, “and reports the realization of polymer solar cells with fill factors of 80 percent – a first. This number is close to that of silicon solar cells.” “Fill factor” is a measure of the ratio of the maximum power from the solar cell to the product of Voc (open-circuit voltage) and Isc (short-circuit current). The link …
Dr. Seeley at AirVenture 2013
Imagine being able to walk one morning from your front door to a nearby small airport, step into an electrically-powered small airplane, point to a destination on an illuminated map on the airplane’s display screen, and be whisked to your destination so quietly that your passage overhead will not wake your neighbors. This is part of the dream that Dr. Brien Seeley, founder and President of the CAFE Foundation, presented to an appreciable and appreciative crowd on Friday, August 2 at the Rotax Pavilion during the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture 2013. His talk, “The CAFE Foundation’s Green Flight Challenge Program: Toward a New Transportation Mode,” was a roadmap to how the CAFE Foundation, NASA and corporate sponsors will present five new challenges leading to the type of electric short or vertical-takeoff and landing airplane that will enable neighborhood pocket airports. He also challenged EAA members to become involved, using their technical knowledge and talents to further the development of quiet, …
Would You Believe There Are Four Electric Cri-Cri’s?
Three electric MC-15 Colomban Cri-Cri’s have been flying for at least the last two years. Jean-Luc Soullier created one which flew with Plettenberg model motors. Airbus crafted one with four Rotex motors and counter-rotating propellers on each mount. Anne Lavrand’s Electravia converted a Cri-Cri to use her motors for speed record attempts. Now they are joined by the MC-15E built by Mr. Toon Jacobs and shown at the Federation RSA ( Network of Sport Air ) Rally 2013 in Vichy, France. The RSA, as one would guess, is the French equivalent of America’s Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). Electravia provided the E-Motor GMPE 104 motors, controllers, E=Helices 370 gram (one pound, 13 ounces), 83 centimeter (32.7 inches) propellers and the E-Batts 3 kilowatt-hour battery pack. An Electravia E-Screen instrument monitors battery charge, temperature, and motor temperatures. Powerplants match those developed in 2010 for Cri-Cri Yankee Delta in which Hugues Duval set a world speed record for electric aircraft before a huge crowd at the 2011 Paris Air …
Three Electric Airplanes Fly at AirVenture 2013
Electric aircraft have flown for the last six years at the big Oshkosh AirVenture airshow. Randall Fishman started the movement in 2007 showing his ElectraFlyer trike, and then flew his ElectraFlyer C, a single-seater derived from the Moni motorglider the following year. He won the 2008 Stan Dzik Memorial Award For Design Contribution “for the installation of the Electric-Motor power train” and the Dr. August Raspet Award. Last year he displayed his ElectricFlyer ULS, a twin-boom pusher with soaring capabilities. Others have followed, with Yuneec cruising overhead in 2010, winning the Lindbergh Electric Aircraft Prize (LEAP) prize for the craft’s “significant commercial potential” and “compelling design.” Dale Kramer, flying his twin-Joby-motored eLazair around the ultralight circuit in 2011, showed the potential for electric motors on an amphibian. Sonex Aircraft showed its Waiex in its e-Flight Initiative area in the Innovation Pavilion, looking essentially the same as over past years. the company has noted several test flights since its late December, …
Solar Cells and Artificial Photosynthesis Make Hydrogen Directly
Science 2.0.com reports on an exciting potential breakthrough in solar energy and its direct transformation into hydrogen fuel. Usually, solar cells generate current from photons, making electricity which can run things or be stored in batteries. This new and different approach, using an innovative and inexpensive solar cell and a metal oxide photo anode, can store nearly five percent of solar energy chemically as hydrogen. The metal oxide bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) photo anode includes a small dose of tungsten atoms, was then sprayed onto conducting glass and “coated with an inexpensive cobalt phosphate catalyst,” which helped speed up oxygen formation during water splitting. Science 2.0 reports Professor Dr. Roel van de Krol’s remarks. He’s head of the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin Institute for Solar Fuels, and worked with researchers there and at Deflt University. “Basically, we combined the best of both worlds. We start with a chemically stable, low cost metal oxide, add a really good but sim ple silicon-based thin …
EADS, Partners Open Electric Airplane Campus
The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. (EADS), IABG – a company providing analysis and testing for aerospace companies, and Siemens AG are collaborating along with educational partners the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the Bundeswehr University Munich, the Munich University of Applied Sciences, Bauhaus Luftfahrt, and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to form the Ludwig Boelkow Campus consortium. Consortium partners have also signed a declaration of intent governing future cooperation between the newly founded Ludwig Boelkow Campus GmbH and the Munich Aerospace e.V., aerospace faculty. Named after an aerodynamicist who worked under Antony Fokker, and who headed development of the Messerschmidt ME-262 jet fighter in WWII, the campus will integrate multiple academic disciplines and industries in work designed to foster creative new ways of designing, building, and powering aircraft. With a primary goal to research areas of future flight, the campus and its industrial partners will help further development of next-generation European aircraft. As explained by EADS, projects reflect …
Chip Yates Chasing New Records
This morning’s email brought the following missive from Chip Yates, known for his high-speed attacks on Pikes Peak, the Bonneville Salt Flats and the skies above China Lake, California. “More good news for our electric airplane programs in the lead-up to our planned attempts to set 4 FAI official world records shortly, and then break our own top speed record of 202.6 mph for electric planes in front of the 150,000 crowd at the California Capital Airshow in Sacramento October 5-6!” Chip’s normal enthusiasm may have shortened the battery life on this Long-ESA (Electric Speed and Distance) record-setting aircraft, since his pushing the pack’s limit in all three motorcycle and aircraft record attempts probably pushed the envelope a bit too far. Jason Paur, reporting in Wired magazine’s “Autopia” section, explains, “During his record-setting flight last July, Yates managed to be the first pilot to top 200 mph in an electric airplane. But he fried the battery in the process. It …
Formula Sun Gran Prix Shines
The recent solar-powered race at Circuit of the Americas in Texas hosted 12 teams and an array of configurations and design approaches for an endurance contest that saw Oregon State University’s Phoenix circling the track 193 times for a victory. Phoenix won a squeaker, followed closely by Illinois State with 192 laps and Iowa State with 191 laps. Although not racing the fastest car, Oregon State’s team was most persistent, drivers sometimes putting in four hours at a stretch in the heat-soaked cockpit. The fastest lap went to Iowa State’s Cory Anderson (4 minutes, 42.289 seconds), while OSU’s best was 5:26.565. Phoenix ran its 661 miles over three days, the object being to travel as far as possible in that time on the virtually new Formula 1 track, used for the first time for a noisier Formula race late last year. The Formula Sun Gran Prix took place on the Circuit of the America’s track near Austin, Texas. Oregon State’s Solar …