At the 2011 Paris Air Show at Le Bourget this week, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company N.V. (EADS) showcased at least three electric flight vehicles – two emonstrating current reality and one pointing toward a cleaner future for short-to-medium range airliners. Cri-Cri, the four-motored, contra-rotating props on stalks aerobatic wonder, did indeed perform at the 2011 Paris Air Show, doing six-minute routines daily at the show. Didier Esteyne, the plane’s obviously accomplished pilot, explains things in this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76h4VA3yoNI Emmanuel Joubert, Program Head for the All-electric Cri-Cri at EADS, explained the plane’s advantages. “In all-electric mode, the plane’s performance during climb and aerobatics is better compared to a conventional aircraft of this type. This allows the pilot to really have ‘fun flying’ – with no noise and high torque at low and high speed.” Because of the light weight and small size of the Cri-Cri, initial flights were limited to 20 minutes, but now run 30 minutes, with …
The Prodigious and the Petite
We are endlessly fascinated by the largest, most powerful, or smallest and most infinitesimal of anything. Here we look at two extremes in electric propulsion. The Prodigious American Superconductor produces superconducting wires, and from those, winds a very large motor, that if not the biggest thing to power ships, is the most powerful for its size, and the most powerful to be used in a Navy ship. The company promotes the following benefits for its 36.5 MW (49,000 horsepower) HTS (high temperature superconductor) motor: high power density (compared to traditional copper-wound motors), high partial load efficiency, low noise, harmonic-free voltage, low synchronous reactance, cyclic load insensitivity, and low maintenance. The Petite Lad, living in St. Petersburg, Russia, has constructed the diametrical opposite of the HTS. His micro radio-controlled, electrically-powered model airplane weighs but 0.225 GRAMS – motor, R/C system, and battery. In an R/C forum, readers were blown away by this accomplishment, needless to say, and the general hub-bub prompted this …