Klaus Ohlmann, Jonas Lay and eGenius go 2003 kilometers

Dean Sigler Announcements, Electric Powerplants, Hybrid Aircraft, hydrogen, Hydrogen Fuel, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Klaus Ohlmann and Jonas Lay in the one-and-only eGenius just completed a 2,003 kilometer (1,244 mile) trip from Germany to the Atlantic Ocean on the southern tip of France and return.  The numbers are spectacular.  The flight averaged 190.36 kilometers per hour (118.28 mph) and its hybrid power system consumed a mere 81 liters of fuel.  That works out to 24.72 kilometers per liter or 58.15 mpg.  Even a Prius at that speed would guzzle gasoline. Hybridizing eGenius eGenius was to have originally been HydroGenius, flying on gaseous hydrogen.  Starting design in 2006 and as presented at the 2009 Electric Aircraft Symposium, HydroGenius was designed by Rudolf Voit-Nitschman, Len Schumann, and Steffen Geinitz of the IFB, Institute of Aircraft Design at the University of Stuttgart.  Because Mercedes-Benz did not have their fuel cell available, the designers turned to pure battery power and the airplane became eGenius. The craft won second place in the NASA Green Flight Challenge sponsored by Google …

Green Speed Cup – Year Two Final Results

Dean Sigler Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Stemme’s Green Speed Cup, a speed and economy run that was to have sped over six days, ended on the fifth, with all five Stemmes still competing, but with a big break between the top three and the bottom five. Stemme’s web site explains the deletion of the sixth event.  “The final race of the 2012 GREEN SPEED CUP was a task of 246 km north of Berlin. Although the weather forecasts looked good this morning, the actual weather didn’t match the expectations. Thus the teams compared their powered flight capabilities as the weather didn’t offer too many possibilities for optimization.” Day five was a cat’s cradle of crossing triangles that added up to 248.2 kilometers (153.88 miles) and was won by Markus Scherdel in his S10VT at a speed of 143.2 kilometers per hour (88.78 mph) while burning 4.4 liters per 100 kilometers (53.46 mpg).  This was not a best speed or most economical flight for the event, but …

Vimeo Viewing of First Ever Electric Aircraft Charging Station

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, GFC, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Dr. Brien Seeley, President of the CAFE Foundation, points us toward a video his son Damon just posted to Vimeo.  It depicts part of the 2011 Green Flight Challenge sponsored by Google, for which the Foundation played host. Dr. Seeley explains, “NASA’s Chief Technologist Joe Parrish refers to the Wright Brothers in the video as Sonoma County Supervisor Mike McGuire and I cut the hose to a gasoline dispenser nozzle.”  The symbolic hose is then proudly replaced by a very real electric charging station for airplanes, capable of providing a continuous 9,600 Watts to each of 12 aircraft and used to charge the Pipistrel G-4, e-Genius and Embry-Riddle’s hybrid Stemme during the contest. The video features great in-flight footage of the two pure-electric competitors from the GFC, and makes one wish for the day when private flight is quiet, pollution-free, and inexpensive. The G-4, according to Pipistrel CEO Ivo Boscarol, made the two 200-mile flights in the contest on about …

It’s a Race – It’s an Economy Run

Dean Sigler Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Stemme, the German manufacturer of a series of highly innovative sailplanes, motorgliders and even unmanned aerial vehicles, has announced the first Green Speed Cup, which will  take place between August 7 and 13, 2011, starting from Stausberg Airfield every day. Combining a race with an economy run, the six-day event will help illuminate the strategies different teams will use to fly “as fast as possible while minimizing the consumption of fossil fuel energy,” according to the GSC’s organizers.  Explaining that the Cup is a “a direct comparison of technologies, machines, materials and the capabilities of the pilots,” taking into account how pilots can exploit thermals and winds, Stemme expects that the competition should “practical solutions for saving energy during powered flight.” If all goes well, “Today’s standards for cruising speed, range and endurance should be reached or exceeded as far as possible.”  The contest will support a cooperative research project between Stemme and the Technical University of Dresden. Seven aircraft, …

ElectraFlyer’s Near Future Plans

Dean Sigler Uncategorized 3 Comments

ElectraFlyer’s Randall Fishman and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University were the lone inhabitants with aircraft on hand at the “green aviation” display at Sun n’ Fun, exhibiting the modified Stemme and the ElectraFlyer “C” respectively.  Having been within a few displays’ distance from the Thursday tornado that destroyed 69 aircraft, damaged many others, and dismantled marquees all around, they were probably fortunate to be there at all. Having decided to leave his two-seat ElectaFlyer X back at the shop, Randall had his four-year-old ElectraFlyer on hand, an airplane which hides what he describes as the only currently available electric motor, controller, instrumentation, custom propeller hub, and battery package in its neatly cowled nose, and which has been available for years before Yuneec and Pipistrel announced their systems.  He avoids the term, “Plug and Play” because he’s wary of using connector plugs to carry high amperage and high-frequency between the motor and controller, preferring battery cable lugs and bolts for secure connections. …

Solar Sailer Seeks Companionship

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Until now, all solar flight has been solo.  This is understandable, given the need for light weight and large wing areas.  But Eric Raymond is about to change this with Sunseeker III, the world’s first two-seat solar-powered airplane, shown at last weekend’s Green Aviation Show at Le Bourget Field near Paris, France.  Indoor displays were in the Musee’ de l’Air et de L’Espace (the Air and Space Museum). Sunseeker III has a roomy side-by-side seating arrangement in a fuselage derived from the Stemme sailplane.  The wing is crafted from the molds (on long-term loan) for Stuttgart University’s 25-meter (80 feet) Icare II, flown in 1996.  As Raymond explains in his blog, “Professor Nitschmann’s design firm www.sfl-gmbh.de is very friendly to our project, and we hope to work together in the future on solar powered aircraft.”   The 20 kilowatt motor is being developed by Slovenian Roman Susnik, and fabrication of the wings is taking place in Slovenia, making the effort a virtual European Union assemblage. In his blog, Raymond …

Many Happy Hours in Sunny Skies

Dean Sigler Uncategorized 1 Comment

Eric Raymond, over the last 20 years, has accumulated more solar-powered flying hours than any other pilot. And what hours these have been. Having met Gunther Rochelt and flown Rochelt’s Musculair human-powered airplane in 1986, Eric was inspired to apply the light construction techniques to the building of a solar-powered airplane. In 1990, he flew Sunseeker I across the United State in 21 hops totaling 121 hours in the air, going from California to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the birthplace of powered flight. He upgraded Sunseeker over the years, improving the powerplant and aerodynamics of the amazingly light aircraft. Even with solar cells, batteries, and a 2.5 kW motor, the airplane weighed little more than a legal ultralight. Sunseeker II came to have a new wing, a motor twice as powerful as that on Sunseeker I, and improved battery and solar panel controls designed by Alan Cocconi. Eric made several flights in the new craft, one from Ramona, California to …