would an electric sustainer be practical

[Brad[_2_]]

Just doing some day dreaming..........but why not make a sustainer,
capable of climbing out after a short winch/auto/aero tow and finding
lift.

I think the prop could be smaller, the HP of the engine lower, the
battery capacity less.

Plus I have just the spot in my Apis to put one!

Brad

[Eric Greenwell]

Brad wrote:
> Just doing some day dreaming..........but why not make a sustainer,
> capable of climbing out after a short winch/auto/aero tow and finding
> lift.
>
> I think the prop could be smaller, the HP of the engine lower, the
> battery capacity less.
>
> Plus I have just the spot in my Apis to put one!

My limited understanding is you can save on the motor weight by
accepting a slow climb, and you can save on the battery weight by
accepting a limited height climb. If you are happy with those
compromises, go for it!

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* Sections on Mode S, TPAS, ADS-B, Flarm, more

* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

[Dave Nadler]

On Jul 23, 9:20*pm, Brad > wrote:
> would an electric sustainer be practical...

Sadly, no. See:
http://www.nadler.com/Antares/Lange_visit_20090410.html

See ya, Dave "YO electric sometimes-18m-shorty"

[Eric Greenwell]

Dave Nadler wrote:
> On Jul 23, 9:20 pm, Brad > wrote:
>> would an electric sustainer be practical...
>
> Sadly, no. See:
> http://www.nadler.com/Antares/Lange_visit_20090410.html

As long as Brad doesn't want to cruise long distances or climb to great
heights, but is just looking for a couple thousand feet to get away from
a low cost launch, it should be practical in the Apis. The electric
motor would easily avoid the problems with two-stroke motor vibration
that Lange is working to overcome, while offering even simpler, more
reliable operation, all with no loss of power at high density locations.

I'll bet those claims sound familiar!

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* Sections on Mode S, TPAS, ADS-B, Flarm, more

* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

[Marc Ramsey[_3_]]

At 02:04 24 July 2009, Dave Nadler wrote:
>On Jul 23, 9:20=A0pm, Brad wrote:
>> would an electric sustainer be practical...
>
>Sadly, no. See:
>http://www.nadler.com/Antares/Lange_visit_20090410.html
>
>See ya, Dave "YO electric sometimes-18m-shorty"

Happily, not everyone agrees, see:

http://www.dg-flugzeugbau.de/dg1000te-e.html

Marc

[brianDG303[_2_]]

On Jul 23, 10:15*pm, Marc Ramsey >
wrote:
> At 02:04 24 July 2009, Dave Nadler wrote:
>
> >On Jul 23, 9:20=A0pm, Brad *wrote> >> would an electric sustainer be practical...
>
> >Sadly, no. See:
> >http://www.nadler.com/Antares/Lange_visit_20090410.html
>
> >See ya, Dave "YO electric sometimes-18m-shorty"
>
> Happily, not everyone agrees, see:
>
> http://www.dg-flugzeugbau.de/dg1000te-e.html
>
> Marc

Of course the most interesting detail was that DG was able to get
German government support to help develop this project.

[Craig[_2_]]

On Jul 24, 9:00*am, brianDG303 > wrote:
> On Jul 23, 10:15*pm, Marc Ramsey >
> wrote:
>
> > At 02:04 24 July 2009, Dave Nadler wrote:
>
> > >On Jul 23, 9:20=A0pm, Brad *wrote> >> would an electric sustainer be practical...
>
> > >Sadly, no. See:
> > >http://www.nadler.com/Antares/Lange_visit_20090410.html
>
> > >See ya, Dave "YO electric sometimes-18m-shorty"
>
> > Happily, not everyone agrees, see:
>
> >http://www.dg-flugzeugbau.de/dg1000te-e.html
>
> > Marc
>
> Of course the most interesting detail was that DG was able to get
> German government support to help develop this project.

You might look to see what Greg Cole is doing with electric for the
Sparrowhawk. The Apis isn't quite as light, but it's closer to that
than to the Antares.

Craig

[John Smith]

In a year or three we will know the answer: Schempp-Hirth will be
offering the Arcus as an electrical self launcher with the engine from
Lange and DG will be offering the DG1000 as an electric sustainer. As
both factories are also offering those same gliders as pure gliders and
with combustion engines, we will be able to compare how it all calculates.

I suspect that the certification requirements are probably harder for
self launchers than for sustainers, which will also contribute to the
equation.