Scott Sevcik, Aerospace and Defense Business Development Manager for Stratasys, gave EAS IX participants a look into the most advanced aircraft manufacturing techniques currently available, and what might be possible in the near future. Traditional manufacturing techniques have relied on subtractive techniques, starting with an aluminum billet, for instance, and sawing, filing and sanding away anything that doesn’t belong on the finished part. Anyone who’s worked in a shop knows the barrels and buckets of metal shavings that fill up quickly. What if there were no materials to be recycled at the end of a production run? Additive manufacturing (AM) is a way to produce parts that grow during the process, and that don’t leave much, or any, debris afterward. Scott explained that a namesake, S. Scott Crump, invented fused deposition modeling (FDM), the 3D printing process on which most desktop 3D printers rely. He also founded Stratsys, Ltd. in 1989 with his wife Lisa. He explained the Stratasys acquired …
EAS IX to be A Gala Gathering
Dr. Seeley sent this along today. On May 1, 2, 2015, the world’s leading experts will converge for the 9th Annual CAFE Electric Aircraft Symposium in the beautiful Sonoma Wine Country. The confirmed presenters include: Airbus on “The e-Fan Design” Michigan’s Satki3 CEO Ann Marie Sastry on “Solid State Energy Storage” Italy’s Eric Raymond of GFC I Team-eGenius on “Sunstar and the SunSeeker Duo” Slovenia’s Tine Tomazic of GFC I Team Pipistrel USA on “Converting GA Aircraft to Electric Propulsion” UCR’s Zach Favors on “Beach Sand for Long Cycle Life Li-ion Batteries” Northrop-Grumman’s J. Philip Barnes on “Regenerative Electric Flight” NASA’s Dr. Eric Darcy on “Battery Safety” Ford/Ricardo’s Neil Johnson on “Li-ion BMS & Gauging” Launchpoint’s Michael Ricci on “Propulsion by Wire” Also expected are Northrop-Grumman’s Barnaby Wainfan on “Low Aspect Ratio Electric Aircraft”, Ray Pekar of Autoliv on “Airbags for Impact, Rafts and EMAS”, Bose Automotive Suspension lead Neal Lackritz on “Active Suspension for Sky Taxis” and Jeff DeGrange of …
3D Printed Power Inverter Meets, Beats DOE 2020 Targets
Reduced weight and component volumes are important for both cars and aircraft, allowing lighter overall construction and greater flexibility in fitting those components into compact spaces. The U. S. Department of Energy has set 2020 targets for things like batteries and power inverters – the device that turns direct current from batteries into alternating current to run electric motors. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)used 3D printing and “novel silicon carbide (SiC) wide band gap (WBG) semiconductors to craft a prototype power inverter for electric vehicles that is lighter and can handle more power than current units. It nearly meets the DOE’s power density and specific power targets and exceeds the efficiency target handily. Metric DOE 2020 target ORNL prototype Power density 13.4 kW/L 13.33 kW/L Specific Power 14.1 kW/kg 11.5 kW/kg Efficiency >94% Power <99% DOE has put 1.45 million into integrating WGB technology, novel circuit architectures and advanced packaging into electric drive systems. …
Dr. Ajay Misra Leads Off With a Hit at EAS VIII
Not to indulge in hyperbole, but people who missed the eighth annual Electric Aircraft Symposium will, like the laggards mentioned in Henry V’s speech, “think themselves accurs’d they were not here” (Shakespeare, Henry V, act 4, scene III). After the Friday morning introductions by Dr. Brien Seeley, founder and president of the CAFE Foundation, things immediately went into high gear with the presentation by Dr. Ajay Misra, NASA Glenn Research Center. A member of the Senior Executive Service, he is Chief of the Structures and Materials Division in the Research & Technology Directorate. In this position, Dr. Misra has the responsibility for planning, advocating, coordinating, organizing, directing and supervising all phases of Division research and business activities. His degrees in metallurgy, an MBA degree and a doctorate in materials science and engineering demonstrate the high intellectual skills necessary to manage the 120 employees and 100 contractors in Dr. Misra’s Division. His discussion on “Nano-Magnets and Additive Manufacturing for Electric Motors” …
Additive Manufacturing for Electric Motors
United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) is working with the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) on the “Additive Manufacturing of Optimized Ultra-High Efficiency Electric Machines,” or making motors through 3-D printing with metals, possibly obviating the need for rare-earth elements. The $2.7 million ARPA-E award will fund the East Hartford, Connecticut-based project through early 2016 and may lead toward the goal of creating lower-cost, more efficient motors. Because modern permanent magnet motors require rare earth minerals in their magnets for maximum performance, manufacturers must make optimum use of these minerals with minimum waste to be successful. Because these minerals do not exist in large quantities in North America, makers must import a great many of them from Asia, where certain key players maintain control over their distribution. ARPA-E explains the “workaround” possible through improved manufacturing techniques. “Rare earths are naturally occurring minerals with unique magnetic properties that are used in electric vehicle (EV) motors and wind generators. Because these …