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Electric / hybrid aircraft propulsion (NOT cars)

Someone is doing a battery powered PA46 airframe!

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Here is another project – Electric Aviation Group. 70 seats this time. Can anyone see how the numbers could possibly add up?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

Up and down the country, the main take-up will be by champagne socialists

In my anecdotal experience, no, not really. All the people I know who are installing these things are dyed in the wool Tories, some of whom are right of Margaret Thatcher. Reducing cost, having a nicer driving experience and reducing pollution isn’t a political thing. Most UK Conservatives I know are also lower case ‘c’ conservative, and don’t like waste, inefficiency, and things that are crap.

If you were talking about Texas, I might agree. Over there, many right wingers see wastefulness and pollution as virtuous, and conserving resources and not polluting are seen as very left wing ideologies. See the idiotic ‘rolling coal’ stuff.

Last Edited by alioth at 23 Jul 13:29
Andreas IOM

Reading that EAG article above, I noticed this

EAG has not specified what type of engine it will use to generate electricity for HERA’s motors or how it will configure the propulsion system. It said that the aircraft will feature what it calls Gear Assisted Takeoff Run (GATOR) technology to support its unspecified short takeoff capability while reducing energy requirements.

which suggests they will be driving the landing gear wheels to get a shorter takeoff run! That’s pretty clever, and easy enough nowadays because putting a brushless motor inside each of the two main wheels is not hard.

They are not saying what they will use to power the “battery charger”, and in fact they may use only a very small battery, or even no battery at all. It sounds like they will have a gas turbine driven generator, driving electric motors for the propeller, and driving electric motors in the wheels.

Would a gas turbine driving a generator driving two electric motors be more efficient than pouring the same amount of jet-a1 into two turboprop engines?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

Would a gas turbine driving a generator driving two electric motors be more efficient than pouring the same amount of jet-a1 into two turboprop engines?

Depends on the duty cycle and configuration details. Weight is a problem. I can’t say more

Diesel generators are an option, also if the massive weigh penalty is manageable for the intended service.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 23 Jul 14:36

Certainly a diesel engine driven generator will be more efficient than a gas turbine driven generator – for these small plants, anyway (I guess 1GW gas turbines are better).

Passenger acceptance of a diesel rumbling away somewhere would be interesting…

The duty cycle is always a problem with aircraft, surely, because the power is fairly constant. Unless you cruise at low power, which makes a plane very slow, and you are up against passenger acceptance again, unless it is a short journey. Maybe that is the formula they are going for – a 70 seat motor glider.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

A service that would for example carry no passengers and maximize low airspeed time on station is a better application than a high continuous power people moving application.

BTW there is an analogous situation with fast ships that spend lots of time on station, and in this case one of two gas turbines is shut down to operate in what’s termed trail shaft configuration, one remaining engine driving one shaft.

.

One of the world’s ugliest planes, the Fairey Gannet (particularly ugly with all the sub hunting kit) would shut an engine down for better fuel efficiency when it didn’t need the power of both.

Andreas IOM

alioth wrote:

One of the world’s ugliest planes, the Fairey Gannet (particularly ugly with all the sub hunting kit) would shut an engine down for better fuel efficiency when it didn’t need the power of both.

Didnt Nimrods do the same thing?

Someone is now claiming 200kt and 800nm range. They have an internal combustion engine in there…

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
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