Here are my answers:

Dne petek, 28. september 2012 23:50:12 UTC+2 je oseba RW napisala:
Luka,

Many of US glider ports have 4-5000ft paved runway.

Do you think electric scooter hub motor would help FES launch

850lbs Standard glider?

Now we have 22kW in front which is plenty of power for good acceleration on paved runway. Small enough motor which could fit into hub of Tost whell, I think could not have more than 1 or maybe 2kW.
You can see a video of LAK17A FES selflaunch at 400kg weight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gLH9...layer_embedded

Even for selflaunch from a grass is enough power and we will also increase it in future. What is really neccesery for safe selflaunch from grass is slightly higher undercariange, which is also possible to achive, with some modifications.
And this is the plan to do it!

Do you think , you could change shape of the batteries so we can slip

them in the wings instead of water bags ?

Unfortunately this is not so simple. Check how batterie in the wings are arranged at Antares:
http://nadler.com/Antares/Antares_MechanicTraining.html

It can not be done in much different way, and so you need to have built in rails, to slide them in and so that they are fixed. Another issue is that wings are bending etc. On used glider all this would be science fiction...

With Chinese batteries prices dropping down,and most of US gliders registered experimental,do you think you could sell FES kits for $15000 if you have at least 100 customers ?

Electric system must be properly installed, so we do not support selling kits, as we can not be sure that instalation would be done properly. There is only very little choice for suitable batteries (capacity, size, weight, and C ratings) which are still expensive. With bigger series I am sure price could drop considerably.

In US most of us are keeping gliders in the trailer, and trailer sits outdoors,did you think about creating solar charging system for FES batteries on the trailer ?

This is possible and it was done already by solar and wind generators by other companyes, but it would higher the price, especially if there are buffer batteries in trailer like it was done at those solutions. To take batteries out and charging them on the grid is the cheapest and the safest way. But onyl at FES this is possible as there are only two 15kg batterie boxes, and they are easy to take out and install back. Storage of batteries is prefared at room temperatures. If trailer is standing on hot sun, than temperature inside is higher and this is not good for time life of batterie packs.


Ryszard