China has flown its first hydrogen-powered four-seat aircraft, the Liaoning Ruixiang RX4HE, on March 25. The airplane is somewhat unique in having an internal combustion engine (ICE) that runs on the liquid hydrogen used as fuel. Developed with the FAW (First Automobile Works), the engine displaces two liters and runs on the 4.5 kilograms (9.9 pounds) of highly-pressurized H2 carried on board. This enables one hour endurance at a cruising speed of 180 kilometers per hour (112 mph). FAW claims 43-percent efficiency for the powertrain and an overall thermal efficiency “greater than 40 percent.” (The video shows the RX4E, no videos of the HE model yet available.) According to Wikipedia, “China FAW Group Corp., Ltd. is a Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in Changchun, Jilin. Founded in 1953, it is currently the second largest of the “Big Four” state-owned car manufacturers of China, together with SAIC Motor, Dongfeng Motor Corporation and Changan Automobile.” e-Flight Journal reports the engine is “turbocharged …
5X Lithium Sulfur Battery with a Gut Feeling
Bio-mimicry presents itself in aerodynamics, from the emulation of soaring bird’s wing shapes on sailplane’s surfaces to owl-feather-like trailing edges on wind turbines. We don’t often think of biological equivalents in energy storage (your editor didn’t until now, at least). But researchers at Cambridge University in England and the Beijing Institute of Technology in China have turned to the small intestine for their breakthrough in battery development. Tiny cells lining the human intestine inspired these researchers to develop a prototype of a lithium-sulfur battery that they claim could have five times the energy density of conventional lithium-ion batteries. Dr. Paul Coxon from Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy says “This gets us a long way through the bottleneck which is preventing the development of better batteries.” Is That You, Villi? Villi in the gut help process food being digested, trapping nutrient particles in millions of tiny, “finger-like protrusions” which increase the absorbent surface area over which digestion takes place. …