Eric Raymond has been designing and building solar-powered aircraft for 28 years, and flew Sunseeker 1 across the United State in 1990, Sunseeker 2 over the Alps in 2009, and has started touring Italy in the world’s first two-seat sun-powered aircraft, the Duo. After three such outstanding efforts, what direction will his new design take? He took away any mystery on that today by unveiling his fourth aircraft, an optionally manned, high altitude platform, SUNSTAR. Eric claims, “more performance potential than any of the other projects now under development. “Compared to other solar UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) being developed, the Sunstar promises higher flight speeds in a turbulence-tolerant design, for operation in real world conditions.” “Sunstar takes advantage of sailplane aerodynamic design philosophy to achieve the lowest possible power requirement to maintain flight at high altitudes.” It takes technology tested on the Sunseeker Duo “to a whole new level.” Capable of unmanned flight for months at a time, the airplane …
The Verticopter® , an Adaptable and Expandable Convertiplane
Oliver Garrow, founder, designer, and President of Garrow Aircraft LLC, says it right up front, “My design is completely counterintuitive.” Pilots are used to counterintuitive thinking. Push the nose down and add power when you’ve stalled and are heading groundward anyway, for instance. But the logic of what Garrow is doing becomes apparent only when you see the Verticopter® flying. Adaptable for varying flight characteristics, the Verticopter can be powered by one or more motors. A single motor, for instance, would provide a simple solution for a conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft. A short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) airplane might use two or more motors. Full vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) would require four to six motors. Motors can be pivoted on all models, providing vectored thrust that makes the most of the airplane’s unique configuration. Garrow sees electric power as ideal for this application, and the use of one or multiple motors simplifies the problem of vectoring the …
Smart Skies Down Under
Mr Richard R. Glassock holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with honors, and supervises undegraduate unmanned aerial vehicle projects at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) with the Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA). He currently leads the “Smart Skies” unmanned aerial systems flight-testing program and is working on his Master’s Thesis. At the Twenty-Fourth Bristol International Unmanned Air Vehicle Systems Conference, in 2009, Bristol United Kingdom he presented a detailed paper on a parallel hybrid system using off the shelf model aircraft components he and his associates designed and tested. “Multimodal Hybrid Powerplant for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Robotics” shows the use of an OS 10 cc model airplane engine, combined with a Plettenberg 220 motor. His group found that climb rates of the combined powerplants were improved 56 percent over that for an internal-combustion engine only, and that endurance increased by 13 percent, based on the combined efficiencies of the hybrid components. Richard is a regular reader of …