domingo, 10 de mayo de 2020
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VoltAero unveils production-version Cassio hybrid-electric aircraft
Médis, France – VoltAero today revealed the production configuration for its Cassio aircraft, which will revolutionize general aviation with a highly efficient, safe and optimized family of airplanes powered by the company's hybrid-electric power module.
Cassio utilizes VoltAero's hybrid-electric power module in an aft fuselage "pusher" configuration, integrating a cluster of electric motors with a high-performance internal combustion engine that serves as the range extender. The powertrain currently is being validated on VoltAero's Cassio 1 flight test aircraft, ensuring a high level of maturity for certification and production.
"The Cassio production design's unveiling represents the latest step in our realistic and highly pragmatic creation of an all-new aircraft family," said Jean Botti, VoltAero's CEO and Chief Technical Officer. "It benefits from our team's unmatched experience in hybrid-electric aviation, as well as the ongoing full-scale flight testing that removes the risk as we move toward the production phase."
VoltAero's proprietary Cassio design is based on a sleek, aerodynamically-optimized fuselage, a forward fixed canard, and an aft-set wing with twin booms that support a high-set horizontal tail.
Cassio will be offered in three versions, each sharing a high degree of modularity and commonality:
- Cassio 330, a four-seat configuration with propulsion from a combined hybrid-electric power of 330 kilowatts;
- Cassio 480, configured with six seats and a hybrid-electric propulsion power of 480 kilowatts;
- Cassio 600, with a 10-seat capacity and hybrid-electric propulsion power of 600 kilowatts.
Cassio aircraft will be produced at a purpose-built final assembly line in the Nouvelle Aquitaine region of southwest France, with VoltAero leading a world-class team of partners and suppliers. Licensed production opportunities will be pursued in North America and Asia.
Initial deliveries are targeted for the end of 2022, beginning with the four-seat Cassio 330 version.
The Cassio family of airplanes is tailored for operation by private owners, air taxi/charter companies, in commercial flights for point-to-point regional travel, and in various utility-category applications. Cassio will be certified to Europe's EASA CS23 certification specification as a single-engine, general aviation category aircraft.
Performance
- Autonomy: 3.5 hours (extension possible to 5 hours)
- Range: 800 miles
- Cruise speed: 200 knots
- Take-off/landing distance: less than 1,800 feet
- Maximum takeoff weight: Under 2.5 metric tons (EASA CS23 certification)
- Availability: 10 hours/day (equivalent to approximately eight rotations daily)
About VoltAero
VoltAero is taking electric aircraft to an entirely new level. Benefitting from 50-plus years of combined pioneering expertise, VoltAero is developing a truly unique general aviation airplane family, Cassio, for safe, quiet, efficient and eco-friendly flight in hybrid-electric and electric modes. A flight demonstrator, along with a ground-based "iron bird" system test rig and a powertrain test bench, are validating the Cassio configurations, de-risking them for airworthiness certification and the subsequent application on new-production airplanes.
Shape-shifting carbon fibre could replace mechanical systems for planes and more
Imagine wind turbine blades that change shape to achieve the most efficiency in varying wind speeds, or airplane wings that bend and alter their own form without hydraulic rudders and ailerons. These are two potential uses for a carbon fibre material unveiled by researchers in Sweden.
Capable of changing form with the help of electronic impulses, the new solid state carbon fibre composite was demonstrated by researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, in a proof-of-concept study published recently by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).
Co-author Daniel Zenkert says the material exhibits all of the advantageous properties of shape-morphing material – without the drawbacks that have prevented other development work from taking flight, such as weight and insufficient mechanical stiffness.
State-of-the-art morphing technologies, which can be used in robotics and satellite booms, rely on systems of heavy mechanical motors, hydraulic and pneumatic pumps, or solenoids to create shape changes, Zenkert says. These mechanically complicated systems add what is known as "parasitic weight" and are costly to maintain.
One way to reduce the mechanical complexity is to use solid-state morphing materials, he says.
"We have developed an entirely new concept," Zenkert says. "It's lightweight, stiffer than aluminum and the material changes shape using electric current." The material is capable of producing large deformations and holding them with no additional power, albeit at low rates, he says.
The composite consists of three layers – two of which are commercial carbon fibre doped with lithium-ions on each side of a thin separator. When the carbon fibre layers each have an equal distribution of ions, the material is straight. As electric current is added, the lithium ions migrate from one side to the other causing the material to bend. Reversing the current enables the material to return to a state of equilibrium and regain its previous, unbent form.
"We have for some time worked with structural batteries, such as carbon fiber composites that also store energy like a lithium-ion battery," Zenkert says. "Now we have further developed the work. We expect it lead to completely new concepts for materials that change shape only by electrical control, materials that are also light and rigid."
The researchers are now moving forward with other lightweight and structural materials that use less energy during use, with the ultimate aim of resource efficiency and sustainability.
Peter Ardell/David Callahan
Shape-morphing carbon fiber composite using electrochemical actuation
Wilhelm Johannisson, Ross Harnden, Dan Zenkert, Göran Lindbergh
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Apr 2020, 117 (14) 7658-7664; DOI: