While we wait (with increasing patience or impatience depending on our personalities) for the next round of battery developments to make pure electric airplanes a reality, hybrid possibilities abound. The definition of “hybrid” might not be as coherent as those used for automobiles. Some “hybrids in this entry allow extended letdowns following a primary engine failure. In that case, the added electric motor/generator gives extra minutes to find a safe landing space. While both motor and primary engine are operational, the system acts much like an automotive hybrid system, both motor and engine combining outputs for added power, or the electrical portion recharging batteries while the engine maintains cruise power. Some are more like automotive serial systems, an engine-driven generator charging batteries which power the propulsion motor. Pipistrel, though the Hypstair project, has a 200-kilowatt (268-horsepower) unit ready for test flights in 2017, according to Tine Tomazic, Director of Research and Development. Several Flying Now Several years ago, Flight Design …
Euro/Israeli hybrid Powers Neat Italian ULM
Great minds tend in the same directions. Newton and Leibniz both came up with the calculus at roughly the same time, both goaded to develop a way to determine the orbit of Halley’s Comet. So it’s no surprise that two different groups would come up with similar solutions to developing a backup hybrid system for light aircraft. Within weeks of one another, Spain’s UC3M and Israel’s Ashot Ashkelon both unveiled add-on hybrid systems for Rotax engines. Aviation Week identifies the second team’s players in its report. “An innovative hybrid propulsion system (HPS) for light aircraft – manned or unmanned – is being unveiled here at the Paris Air Show. The HPS was developed by an international consortium headed by Israel’s Ashot Ashkelon, Italian light aircraft developer CFM Air and Italian hybrid propulsion specialist Efesto.” Similar to the Madrid University’s design, Ashot Ashkelon’s system includes a new propeller shaft, a new gearbox developed by Ashot, a DC/AC power converter and controller, …