Electric Motorglider Flies

ELECTRAFLYER FLIES TRIKE, MOTORGLIDER ON BATTERY POWER
(http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#197632)
For the sport flyer who enjoys local fun flights and $100
hamburgers, Electraflyer's new battery-powered airplane may be
just right -- and with no fuel to burn, it can cut the cost of
that hamburger down to about 60 cents. That's how much it costs
to fully charge the lithium-polymer battery pack, says Randall
Fishman, president of the Electraflyer Corp.
(http://www.electraflyer.com/) The electric engine is mounted on
an old Monnet motorglider that Fishman built from a kit, and the
aircraft just this week earned its experimental airworthiness
certificate....


Watch the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_GCAy40RiE


Other electric aircraft:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Pb_psj1A8
Sonex Electric Powered Flight, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2007
John Monnett



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcWSI03NKo0
Eric Raymond with his Sunseeker electric powered self launching
sailplane discusses the engineering aspects of electric aircraft.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL18Oh_qSRM
Boeing's hydrogen fuel cell powered Dimona (a.k.a. Katana)
motor-glider is the first to fly in aviation history.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzeCQblYHic

* * *just right -- and with no fuel to burn, it can cut the cost of
* * *that hamburger down to about 60 cents. That's how much it costs
* * *to fully charge the lithium-polymer battery pack, says Randall

Yeah, plus the cost for a new battery after probably less than 1,000
recharges. Plus motor cost. Plus plus plus... And your hamburger will
ge cold when you arrive - if not even the restaurant has closed since
you flew that slow.

Take a small piston engine instead and get better performance at
similar or even lower total cost.

virtuPIC
--
Airspace V - international hangar flying!
http://www.airspace-v.com

On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:36:17 -0700 (PDT), virtuPIC
wrote in
:

* * *just right -- and with no fuel to burn, it can cut the cost of
* * *that hamburger down to about 60 cents. That's how much it costs
* * *to fully charge the lithium-polymer battery pack, says Randall

Yeah, plus the cost for a new battery after probably less than 1,000
recharges. Plus motor cost. Plus plus plus... And your hamburger will
ge cold when you arrive - if not even the restaurant has closed since
you flew that slow.


All valid points.

But the significance of this successful electrically powered aircraft
is that it (along with the very few others) clearly demonstrates that
electrically powered aircraft are somewhat feasible. For unlike
surface vehicles that only require power to propel them forward,
aircraft require additional power to sustain them in the air. So
successful electrically powered aircraft are significantly more
remarkable than electric cars.

The Li-ion batteries currently available on the market, while a
significant enabling technologic advancement over lead-acid batteries,
are not designed for the heavy demands of motive service. Given the
torrent of Li-ion cell advancements being announced regularly, I
foresee them becoming ever better suited to that service as time goes
on.

Take a small piston engine instead and get better performance at
similar or even lower total cost.

I'll bet the Model T owner said something similar about the Wright
Flyer. :-)

On Apr 14, 10:11 am, Larry Dighera wrote:
On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:36:17 -0700 (PDT), virtuPIC
wrote in
:

just right -- and with no fuel to burn, it can cut the cost of
that hamburger down to about 60 cents. That's how much it costs
to fully charge the lithium-polymer battery pack, says Randall

Yeah, plus the cost for a new battery after probably less than 1,000
recharges. Plus motor cost. Plus plus plus... And your hamburger will
ge cold when you arrive - if not even the restaurant has closed since
you flew that slow.

All valid points.

But the significance of this successful electrically powered aircraft
is that it (along with the very few others) clearly demonstrates that
electrically powered aircraft are somewhat feasible. For unlike
surface vehicles that only require power to propel them forward,
aircraft require additional power to sustain them in the air. So
successful electrically powered aircraft are significantly more
remarkable than electric cars.

The Li-ion batteries currently available on the market, while a
significant enabling technologic advancement over lead-acid batteries,
are not designed for the heavy demands of motive service. Given the
torrent of Li-ion cell advancements being announced regularly, I
foresee them becoming ever better suited to that service as time goes
on.

Take a small piston engine instead and get better performance at
similar or even lower total cost.

I'll bet the Model T owner said something similar about the Wright
Flyer. :-)

Boeing also recently flew a fuel cell + battery powered airplane.
http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news..._197531-1.html

This is a necessary step if GA is to survive past this century. The
technology is just getting started so things can only get better. With
piston engines, the good days are behind us.

On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:47:38 -0700 (PDT), Andrew Sarangan
wrote in
:


Boeing also recently flew a fuel cell + battery powered airplane.
http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news..._197531-1.html

This is a necessary step if GA is to survive past this century. The
technology is just getting started so things can only get better. With
piston engines, the good days are behind us.

Agreed.

With the ever increasing torrent of discoveries being made in physics,
I fully expect advancements in anti-gravity (not to mention quantum
computing) to occur before the end of the century. But I'm an
optimist. Just as likely, some fool will unleash the nuclear dogs of
war, and sterilize our planet.

That said, electrical propulsion does have the potential for three to
four times the efficiency (~90%) of internal combustion engines (~20%
to 30%). Unlike petroleum, sunlight is (for all practical purposes)
not a finite resource, and no nation or region has a monopoly on it.
Imagine a solar powered photovoltaic system on the ground that quietly
electrolyzes water into its constituent parts, hydrogen and oxygen,
percolating away all day long generating the fuel to run a fuel-cell
electric generator (with its exhaust consisting of only pure water).
Photo-cell technology (Spectralab) is currently approaching 40%
efficiency, and electric motors and controllers are =90% efficient,
so clean and quiet electric propulsion is clearly the future.

The application of electric propulsion for aviation today is in its
infancy, and only possible at all because of the technical
breakthrough provided by light Li-ion batteries enabling it. I look
for Li-Ion technology to steadily improve over time. As it is, the
individual cells used today are only approximately the size of common
AA batteries. Imagine the weight savings possible if larger cells
were produced; there would be significantly less steel jacketing
necessary. That said, it's difficult to imagine a battery with the
energy/power density of gasoline, so there will certainly be
tradeoffs.

Despite the fact that electric motors must use iron/steel in their
construction, they are significantly lighter (50%) than their
internal combustion counterparts. But when the wiring, controls,
batteries and perhaps fuel-cells are considered, I would guess the
weight of an electrically powered aircraft would be roughly comparable
to one powered by an internal combustion engine. So, with
significantly less power/energy density than gasoline, batteries will
not provide the same range/duration until they are improved further.
But it is encouraging to see progress being made at last.

Larry Dighera wrote:
On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:47:38 -0700 (PDT), Andrew Sarangan
wrote in
:


Boeing also recently flew a fuel cell + battery powered airplane.
http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news..._197531-1.html

This is a necessary step if GA is to survive past this century. The
technology is just getting started so things can only get better. With
piston engines, the good days are behind us.

Agreed.

With the ever increasing torrent of discoveries being made in physics,
I fully expect advancements in anti-gravity (not to mention quantum
computing) to occur before the end of the century. But I'm an
optimist. Just as likely, some fool will unleash the nuclear dogs of
war, and sterilize our planet.

That said, electrical propulsion does have the potential for three to
four times the efficiency (~90%) of internal combustion engines (~20%
to 30%). Unlike petroleum, sunlight is (for all practical purposes)
not a finite resource, and no nation or region has a monopoly on it.
Imagine a solar powered photovoltaic system on the ground that quietly
electrolyzes water into its constituent parts, hydrogen and oxygen,
percolating away all day long generating the fuel to run a fuel-cell
electric generator (with its exhaust consisting of only pure water).
Photo-cell technology (Spectralab) is currently approaching 40%
efficiency, and electric motors and controllers are =90% efficient,
so clean and quiet electric propulsion is clearly the future.

The application of electric propulsion for aviation today is in its
infancy, and only possible at all because of the technical
breakthrough provided by light Li-ion batteries enabling it. I look
for Li-Ion technology to steadily improve over time. As it is, the
individual cells used today are only approximately the size of common
AA batteries. Imagine the weight savings possible if larger cells
were produced; there would be significantly less steel jacketing
necessary. That said, it's difficult to imagine a battery with the
energy/power density of gasoline, so there will certainly be
tradeoffs.

Despite the fact that electric motors must use iron/steel in their
construction, they are significantly lighter (50%) than their
internal combustion counterparts. But when the wiring, controls,
batteries and perhaps fuel-cells are considered, I would guess the
weight of an electrically powered aircraft would be roughly comparable
to one powered by an internal combustion engine. So, with
significantly less power/energy density than gasoline, batteries will
not provide the same range/duration until they are improved further.
But it is encouraging to see progress being made at last.

Not going to happen.

Energy densities

fuel MJ/kg MJ/L

JET-A 43 33
ethenol 30 24
Li-ion battery (projected) 1 2
NiMH battery .2 .4
ultracapacitor .02 .05

Regenerative fuel cell come in a bit under 2 MJ/kg.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density

Electricity is great stuff, but damn awkward to carry around.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

Larry Dighera wrote:

Other electric aircraft:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Pb_psj1A8
Sonex Electric Powered Flight, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2007
John Monnett

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcWSI03NKo0
Eric Raymond with his Sunseeker electric powered self launching
sailplane discusses the engineering aspects of electric aircraft.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL18Oh_qSRM
Boeing's hydrogen fuel cell powered Dimona (a.k.a. Katana)
motor-glider is the first to fly in aviation history.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzeCQblYHic

http://www.lange-flugzeugbau.com/htm...tares_20E.html


--
Message posted via http://www.aviationkb.com

"Kloudy via AviationKB.com" wrote ...
Larry Dighera wrote:

Other electric aircraft:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Pb_psj1A8
Sonex Electric Powered Flight, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2007
John Monnett

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcWSI03NKo0
Eric Raymond with his Sunseeker electric powered self launching
sailplane discusses the engineering aspects of electric aircraft.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL18Oh_qSRM
Boeing's hydrogen fuel cell powered Dimona (a.k.a. Katana)
motor-glider is the first to fly in aviation history.


http://www.lange-flugzeugbau.com/htm...tares_20E.html


You guys are all chasing yesterday's news. I think our own (happily wacky)
Jay M is right now redesigning his Tron outfit with more batteries and
retractable e-drive prop.

Then he'll be smirking all the way to the bank, thinking whether to go
single engine D-jet or twin engine Eclipse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsF2RUMmpqc

(Remember, he who laughs last,...)