Hybrid Arcus

Borrowing the hybrid technology from the automotive industry, a hybrid system has been developed and succesfully tested on an Arcus.

Energy is stored in a high capacity battery bank during thermalling and during cruise when lift is encountered below the current McCready setting. This energy is then used to extend the best L/D by almost 41%.

The system uses a 4.1KW brushless motor paired with an 14" fixed pitch prop that is mounted to the front of the arcus using the nose tow release as a hard point. As such, no modifications to the structure are required. Wiring to the motor are simply routed around the nose release back to the battery and the controller system.

Pictures of the installed system are at:

http://daziv.com/arcus/img_5333.jpg

http://daziv.com/arcus/img_5335.jpg

The computer controller is designed to optimize automatically the transition from regenerative energy storage to additional thrust production. The pilot can over-ride the system and use any stored energy available in a manner similar to a sustainer if needed.

A crowdfunding effort will be conducted today only so that this system can be developed for all other gliders. The current price target for the system is approximately $4,100 USD.