Mr Richard R. Glassock holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with honors, and supervises undegraduate unmanned aerial vehicle projects at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) with the Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA). He currently leads the “Smart Skies” unmanned aerial systems flight-testing program and is working on his Master’s Thesis. At the Twenty-Fourth Bristol International Unmanned Air Vehicle Systems Conference, in 2009, Bristol United Kingdom he presented a detailed paper on a parallel hybrid system using off the shelf model aircraft components he and his associates designed and tested. “Multimodal Hybrid Powerplant for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Robotics” shows the use of an OS 10 cc model airplane engine, combined with a Plettenberg 220 motor. His group found that climb rates of the combined powerplants were improved 56 percent over that for an internal-combustion engine only, and that endurance increased by 13 percent, based on the combined efficiencies of the hybrid components. Richard is a regular reader of …
Yuneec Adds to Airplane, Motor Lineup
Shanghai-based Yuneec, already promoting a line of electric paramotors, an electric trike, the two-seat E430, unveiled at last year’s AirVenture, and a series of motor/controller/battery combinations, has added to their offerings at AirVenture 2010. New craft include two aircraft, the Apis 2 and Viva from Martin Wezel Flugzeugtechnik, a German designer and purveyor of sailplanes and light sport aircraft. The Apis 2 is a derivation of the Silent electric sailplane, and in this application will be powered by a Yuneec motor system. The Viva, a two-seat motorglider, was designed originally for an HKS-700E two-cylinder engine of about 60 horsepower, and will be converted, like the Apis, to Yuneec power. Spanning 15 meters (49.2 feet), the Apis 2 has a best lift-to-drag ratio of 39:1 at 95 kilometers per hour (59 miles per hour). Normally fitted with a Hirth F33 two-stroke engine of 27 horsepower, the sailplane is self launching and carries 14 liters of fuel, enough for about an hour-and-a-half of …
Solar Impulse Collecting Rays for Night Flight
Its telemetry problems resolved, Solar Impulse HB-SIA took off at 6:51 a.m., Payerne, Switzerland time, July 7, for a day of collecting sunlight in its huge array of solar cells. If Andre’ Borschberg, CEO and cofounder of the project, decides that enough electricity has coursed through the giant craft’s wings to charge the batteries sufficiently, he will attempt to keep flying through the night. The Solar Impulse Project notes the following in today’s press release. “The whole day long, up to about 19:30 (7:30 p.m., Payerne time), the prototype will be slowly ascending to an altitude of 8,500 metres, while at the same time charging its batteries in preparation for the night flight. When the sun’s rays stop being strong enough to supply the solar cells (about two hours before sunset) with energy, the HB-SIA will start a slow descent, reaching an altitude of around 1,500 metres by 23:00. It should then carry on flying, using the energy stored in …
An Off-the-Shelf Hybrid Power Package
Dr. Andrew Frank of the University of California at Davis and Greg Stevenson of GSE, Inc. discussed Efficient Drive Trains at the fourth annual Electric Aircraft Symposium on April 23, 2010. Their detailed look at a 75-kilogram (165 pound), 36 kilowatt (48 horsepower) power system for a high-performance sailplane gave attendees a clear look at what can be accomplished with off-the-shelf components, especially if the shelf is in either presenter’s warehouse. Dr. Frank, teaching and mentoring in the University’s Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering Department, has been dubbed the father of the plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV), and has fielded winning teams for the Shell Eco-Marathon, with lightweight cars that obtained up to 3,500 miles per gallon. The base two-horsepower Briggs and Stratton engine is modified with fuel injection and a higher compression piston, and the 150-pound, supine driver accelerates the pencil-thin vehicle to 21 miles per hour and allows the car to coast down to 11 mph before accelerating again, to achieve an average of …
An LSA With the Electric Heart of an Airliner
Stephan Boutenko, Alternair President and founder, seeks a Light Sport Aircraft alternative, an airplane looking like an LSA, but loaded with features that will allow it to keep pace with the rapidly changing options coming to electric flight. Inspired by Yuneec’s E-430 but disappointed by its slow cruising speed, Boutenko was determined to create something more in line with LSA performance criteria. He also wanted to take advantage of the knowledge he had gained from years of experience with heavier aviation to create an integrated system that would allow flexibility and expandability in the development of his airplane. Unabashedly conventional in appearance, the low-wing, tricycle geared monoplane is conceived to make a pilot transitioning from an internal combustion powered machine feel right at home. The motor control electronics (MCE), for instance, are redundant, and the key-operated switch on the instrument panel has an OFF/ L(EFT MCE)/R(IGHT MCE)/BOTH function, matching the ignition switch for dual magnetos. Beyond that bow to tradition, …
Silicon Alloy Anode Yields 30-Percent More Capacity
Just for notebook computers now, enough of these -as in the over 6,000 such cells that propel a Tesla, could have a profound short-term effect on our hopes for electric flight. The 18650 (18 mm in diameter, 65 mm long) cells by Panasonic are the first to offer a silicon alloy anode, a commercial verification of the research Drs. Cui and Cho have been performing. Panasonic promises 4.0 Amp hours capacity, almost 30-percent more than current lithium cells of the same size. This allows a notebook battery pack almost half the size of one using graphite anode cells. The good news is balanced by the fact that the Si-based cell, at 54 grams each, weighs 10 grams more than the existing model. According to Nikkei Electronics Asia, “The initial target application will be notebook PCs, but a source at the firm comments ‘the ultimate target is vehicles.’ For vehicular applications, weight will be a key issue…. The weight energy density …
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 …
Pulce Elettrica in Italia
The Pou Guide site has news of this extremely small Flying Flea variant. Nedo Lavorini, a light 76 kilograms (167 pounds) flew his Pulce Electtrica (Electric Flea) of 74 kg (162.8 pounds – with batteries) on June 28, 2009 at 7:30 in the morning. An all-up weight of 150 kg (330 pounds) allows the use of four Chinese model airplane motors of 2 kW each to power the featherweight Flea. Motors are arranged in two pairs, each pair coupled to a reduction drive through a toothed belt, and all four driving a common propeller. 45-Volt, 64 Amp-hour Lithium-polymer batteries provide up to 40 minutes flying time, according to the Guide. The Pulce’s light weight and tandem wings of 5.3 meter (17.93 feet) span with a combined wing area of 13 square meters (just shy of 140 square feet), give a wing loading of a mere 11.54 kilograms per square meter, or 2.37 pounds per square foot – just right for the …
The Poop on the Puffin
Under normal circumstances, this editor would never resort to scatological titles, but Mark Moore, the NASA aerospace engineer behind this fantastic flying creation calls his electric craft, “Puffin” because, according to Moore, the bird after which it is named, “Hides its poop, and we’re environmentally friendly because we essentially have no emissions.” Like the Puffin, this craft looks a bit chubby and incapable of flight on the ground, but folds its legs on liftoff, and becomes a streamlined bullet. Moore, who spoke at last year’s Third Annual Electric Aircraft Symposium, and will return for this year’s CAFE Foundation gathering at NASA Ames Research Center in April, unveiled this concept at this year’s American Helicopter Society meeting in San Francisco. Moore and his colleagues, who include personnel at NASA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgia Institutute of Technology, the National Institute of Aerospace, and M-DOT Aerospace, plan on flying a third-scale model of the VTOL craft in March, and thus Moore may …
Big Blue and Blue Sky Thinking
Would a 500-mile electric vehicle battery interest you? IBM, not normally thought of as a purveyor of electric vehicles, is backing a large-scale push from their Almaden Laboratory in San Jose, California, using the lithium-air battery demonstrated by recent experiments at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and the Universities of Strathclyde and Newcastle as a basis for their research. IBM is teaming with UC Berkeley and all five National Laboratories as part of Big Blue’s Big Green Innovations program. Initially launched as a means of reducing the 98 percent of carbon emissions from non-information technology related activities and the two percent from IT activities, the Big Green Initiative took a turn in the last several months toward the development of a 500-mile battery for electric vehicles. According to IBM, “The 500 mile battery program’s goal “is to catalyze long-term, concerted efforts to create rechargeable next-generation batteries with ten times higher energy density, compared to the best current Lithium-ion batteries.” “While scalable energy storage …