Supercomputing to Quiet Aerodynamics Whisper Aero of Crossville, Tennessee supercomputes its way to grand new designs. Affiliating with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the powerplant designer and manufacturer uses the Lab’s supercomputer to investigate the most desirable aerodynamic approaches. The ORNL is working with Whisper on a nine-passenger electric airplane called the Whisper Jet. The collaborators will employ the world’s fourth fastest supercomputer, Summit. (It was the fastest until recently). According to ORNL, access to Summit and its graphics processing unit (GPU) architecture gives Whisper Aero’s team a tenfold speedup over Whisper’s in-house CPU (Central Processing Unit)-only systems. It enables advanced simulations compared to previous systems. Vineet Ahuja, Whisper Aero’s Head of Flight Sciences and an Associate Fellow at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, says, “Using Summit affords us the possibility of expanding the scope of Whisper’s design and analysis activities that benefits aircraft control and aeropropulsive integration, As a result, aerodynamic design has shown an incredible …
Liquid Batteries for Aircraft?
NASA is investigating “the integration of nanoelectrofuel (NEF) flow batteries with rim-driven electric motors to produce a safe, clean and quiet propulsion system for aircraft,” according to Aviation Week. That is the promise of an early-stage rechargeable liquid battery technology under investigation by NASA. The agency is researching the integration of NEF flow batteries with rim-driven electric motors to produce a safe, clean and quiet propulsion system for aircraft. The rim-driven motors are used on boats as thrusters, and may have applications on small unmanned aircraft, although researchers have seen disappointing results so far. Tying these motors to more promising research into” non-explosive energy storage technology” is part of NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center’s Aqueous Quick-Charging Battery Integration for Flight Research (Aquifer) project, along with NASA Glenn Research Center’s co-principal investigation. A spin-off of research at Argonne National Laboratory and Illinois Institute of Technology, Influit Energy has “developed a novel type of rechargeable battery that features active energy-storing materials in …
A Twin-Motored Ultralight Flying Wing – It’s the New Millennium
Richard Glassock, an Australian now living and working in Hungary, sent the links to YouTube videos of a Millennium hang glider, neatly electrified and flown at this year’s Santa Cruz Salt Flats Race. Richard has been a speaker at the Electric Aircraft Symposium with a talk on his efforts with small hybrid electric power systems for large-scale models and small aircraft. Steve Morris, co-designer of the Millennium along with Ilan Kroo, Brian Porter, Brian Robbins, and Erik Beckman helped develop this rigid-wing hang glider to offer a lighter, more portable version of Swift. Steve reported on his electric-powered Swift at the 2010 Electric Aircraft Symposium. Ilan Kroo reflected on the idea of practical, powered ultralight sailplanes in his American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics paper on the design of the Swift. “With refinements in aerodynamic control and composite structures, hang gliders will continue to evolve toward more soarable foot-launched sailplanes. If one does not constrain the designs to be able …
Powering Imagination in Seattle
Seattle’s Museum of Flight on Boeing Field will host a one-day event, Powering Imagination, an electric flight symposium organized by Erik Lindbergh, grandson of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Presentations will be held in the William M. Allen Theater at the Museum, starting at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 28 and ending at 5:00 p.m. Admission is free, but RSVP to cwilcox@museumofflight.org to guarantee a seat. Topics include an update on the NASA LEAPTech aircraft being designed and built by Joby Aviation and powered by Joby motors. This 20-motor (!) aircraft will achieve a high coefficient of lift from the motors that distribute thrust over the entire span. Eric Lindbergh will talk about the Quiet Flight Initiative, a multi-pronged approach to designing and crafting airplanes quiet enough to be flown over national parks, areas now off-limits to noisy overflights. This is one facet of Powering Imagination, the other two Electric Flight and Alternative Fuels. Erik promises video updates from Europe and an …
Dr. Seeley Speaks at AIAA Conference, NASA Dryden
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 …