High Performance High Powered Electric 300+mph Racing Plane

[MitchJi]

This fully charged episode on electric planes is pretty interesting. There are even more advantages of electric over hydrocarbon in planes than in cars (e.g. electric doesn't require oxygen, not rotationally sensitive, etc.). It's amazing that his current prototype is designed get to 20K feet faster than a modern jet fighter.

Note:
Regarding the "beat a jet to 20,000' altitude", there was a little qualification there that was easy to miss. They were qualifying that stating that both aircraft were sitting on the ground with the engines off. The fighter jet would take a minute (I think they said 90 seconds) to get the engine started and the temps stabilized before it starts the takeoff roll. All that time, the Electroflight is gaining altitude. Many modern fighters have more than a 1:1 power to weight ratio while in full afterburner.

Published on Jul 6, 2016
This remarkable project is still in its early stages but is clearly something we'll be following on Fully Charged.
A fully electric 300+mph racing plane.

Company site:
Home - Electroflight

"The impact of electric propulsion on the design and manufacture of future aircraft will be greater than that of the invention of the jet engine" is how one hugely respected aviation legend describes the importance of this development.

Electric propulsion will revolutionise passenger aircraft development and design as it has other means of mass transport such as rail and shipping.
With the automotive industry already embracing the technology, few if any commentators in the Aviation Business would argue that electric propulsion is far away.

High Tech
The propulsion system utilises the most power dense motors available to drive the contra-rotating propulsion system. Two fixed pitch propellers have been designed and engineered specifically to the rotational and torque characteristics of the motors, together with thrust and acceleration bearing assemblies that far exceed the loads presented during aggressive 10 G aerobatics and air racing.

The carbon composite airframe is fitted with a whole aircraft ballistic parachute system and incorporates a separate pilot safety cell, similar to that in F1 racing cars. The airframe has extremely low form drag and incorporates purpose designed compartments to carry batteries, controllers and electronic equipment. The result is a completely new type of race plane and technology demonstrator that is light, fast and capable of manoeuvres impossible for single propeller piston or gas turbine driven aircraft.

Facts
The single seat prototype aircraft is designed to demonstrate the advantages of pure electric flight.
All Up Weight (excluding pilot); 345 kgs.
Maximum Power (3400rpm): 225 kW
Thrust 500 Kgs
Maximum level Speed (sea level) 250 kts
Climb rate (vertical) 9,000 ft/min
Battery power (720 volts) 15 kW

Construction
The airframe is the result of three years of research and development and is an entirely ground up, all electric design.

The airframe contains no elements attributable to hydrocarbon driven types.
The fuselage and tail is constructed in two halves using advanced multi-ply carbon composite and honeycomb construction materials and vacuum assisted resin infusion methods.
The wings and tail plane are constructed in a similar two-part fashion by laying up into computer machined tooling.
The carbon assemblies are joined with proprietary methods in house.
The propulsion system is fitted directly to the airframe structure.
The only non-composite airframe elements are the canopy, undercarriage and fastenings.

Propulsion System
The propulsion system is a wholly new generation of an electric contra-rotating unit. The high torque of the electric motors allows the propeller shafts to be directly driven without gearing or other speed reduction devices and achieves simplicity unknown in non-electric forms of contra-rotating propeller propulsion. Except for the shaft bearings, the motor rotors, propeller shafts and propellers form the only two rotating assemblies in the system.

This allows for almost maintenance free operation for the life of the system. A unique feature of electric propulsion is the ability to apply full power almost instantly with no spool up or inertial lag time found in piston or turbine types. The system's thrust to take-off weight ratio is greater than one and allows the aircraft to accelerate vertically (vertical take-off) and to operate at extreme altitudes far above oxygen dependant engines in unpiloted conditions.

[Foob]

Similar idea and specs to the Siemens powered electric Extra 300. http://www.siemens.com/press/en/feature ... omotor.php

[craneplaneguy]

No power loss due to density altitude is a great feature of e propulsion. Biking at 8 or 9 K in Idaho, it is appreciated. The peddler can't say the same unfortunately.

[kevbo]

No power loss due to density altitude is a great feature of e propulsion. Biking at 8 or 9 K in Idaho, it is appreciated. The peddler can't say the same unfortunately.

No power loss, but aircraft power requirement still increases with 1/square-root of air density,* and cooling might become an issue especially at takeoff when runway density altitude is exacerbated by summer heat and you want full motor power available. One presumes that adiabatic lapse rate would make cooling loss due to low density less of an issue once airborn.


*Power requirement is related to true airspeed, while aircraft performance depends on indicated airspeed, which is where the sqrt factor comes into play.

[Punx0r]

An impressive display of aeronautical trivia, but irrelevant to the discussion...