G'day.

[Elwarra]

Hi All,

 

My name is Brad Bell, just joined. Please allow me to introduce myself.

 

I work for Microair Avionics / Digecor PTY/LTD, In Bundaberg ( Next door to Jabiru ) and Brisbane. Looks like just the forum for me.

 

I hope that I have knowledge to contribute, I worked in Small Engines and Electric Vehicle Technology ( Tritium PTY LTD ) previously .

 

My work role is :

 

International Logistics Officer

 

Production Close Support Officer

 

R&D close Support Officer

 

I am the Manager also for our Warehouse under CASA Part 145 & PMA , EASA And FAA regulated PMA. Worked closely with MRO's and DOA's like Comtech Aviation in Sydney.

 

My Project is to build a Hybrid powerplant for an ultralight I gained my pilot's licence in the AIRTC in the late 90's but have been grounded since due to , life I suppose. Hope to change that with a Mitchell Wing build..

 

If you know anyone that needs help with anything I know, drop me a line

 

 

[w3stie]

G'day Brad and welcome. What kind of hybrid are you building?

 

 

[Elwarra]

G'day Westie, Thanks for the welcome.

 

Specifics are a little fluffy at this stage but the aim really is to come-up with a Combustion Engine- Electric & drive unit that reduces the cont. load on the prime mover and provide a backup power source should the prime mover quit. It's in the U/L <30HP range. It's not hard to make such a setup with off-the-shelf parts but I'm aiming to use commonly available parts to reduce up-front an replacement/ ongoing costs. The electric motor is AC for efficiency, will likely employ a VFD at the right price.

 

Currently I have a couple of Electric motors and a Couple of 2 & 4 stoke Engines and an adjustable pitch prop. Just need to setup a rig to interchange combinations and start pulling results. Electric motor produces solid and cont. torque. But electric systems are heavy and costly so it will be a case of experimenting. The instrumentation for capturing performance will cost a few buck$.

 

I have crunched a fair few numbers and a Parallel Hybrid drive with Regen for , preferrable Ni-CAd battery ( I have worked with Li-ion alot =( ) looks very modular and scalable on paper.

 

Ultimate prize for me is low cost and maximum amount of Aussie made parts. I'm sitting on a few gems in that sense.Any input appreciated.

 

 

[onetrack]

Welcome to RF, Brad. I'm sure you'll find a wealth of knowledge here, there are some very highly qualified, highly experienced, and intelligent contributors here - and there's not a lot of the snarkiness that ruins other forums.

 

The hybrid idea is excellent and a worthy attempt. I've personally always believed that hybrids will play an important part during our transition to full electric power.

 

Maybe not entirely relevant to your plans, but I've always considered that the likes of the little Japanese inverter camping generators would make for an excellent off-the-shelf hybrid component.

 

Yamaha make the (4-stroke) 1.0Kva EF1000iS, which weighs only 12.7Kgs, produces only 47 dBA in noise levels (57 dBA at full power), and is rated at 900 watts continuous power. It also runs for many hours on its 2.5L fuel tank.

 

Postioned on board as a battery recharging rig - and with the ability to provide a degree of power directly to the electric motor in case of total and complete battery failure (a low likelihood, I would expect) - this little outfit provides a ready-made, additional battery power solution, without a major weight penalty for the bigger ultralights.

 

The only real drawback to the inverter generators is the need for an additional battery charger, as they have no inbuilt battery-charger, unlike some other models of genset.

 

I'm guessing the total weight of a moderate HP electric motor, a decent battery pack, and the Yamaha would come out on a par with an IC engine, plus its fuel, in total weight.

 

http://www.mygenerator.com.au/media/yamaha-brochure.pdf

 

Yamaha vs. Honda 1kVA Inverter Generator Showdown: Yamaha EF1000iS vs. Honda EU10i

 

 

[bexrbetter]

At least you can spell 'owyagoin' properly.

 

 

[onetrack]

Reminds me of a mate who went around wearing a T-shirt at a public gathering with "G'Day" on it.

 

He saw this bloke studying him with a puzzled look for a few minutes - then the bloke made his way over to him and introduced himself with a very American accent - identifying himself as a citizen of that country.

 

After a bit of small talk, and with the American bloke studying his T-shirt, and still looking puzzled; he comes out with, "Waa-al, Ah sure would like to know, just what this here, "Gee-Day" thing means, to you Orstralians?!"

 

He apparently thought we had "A" days, "B" days, "C" days, and so on, down through the alphabet - and he was totally perplexed as to why we had these alphabet days, and why this day was "G" day.

 

 

[Elwarra]

G'day All,

 

Thanks so much for the welcome, RF has alot of brain power on tap !

 

Thanks for the likes and the warm welcome, most appreciated. I struck the site after researching the little old 2 stroke " Skylark" Motor simply because I unearthed some paperwork relating to it in a carton of other rotax parts I recently acquired, which included a late 70's manual called " Proper care and Feeding of the Rotax". Got laugh out of that.

 

I found a service manual, advertising material, information sheet- brochure etc, There s also a bit of correspondence with Ron Lang who designed and built this little solution. I'll scan and publish this stuff and maybe send the originals the Melb. Aviation Museum. While the motor looks like a contraption of mower parts, it seems that there maybe more to it. Seems Ron Lang was / is ( anyone know whereabouts's these day's ? ) a design engineer that raced Motor bikes in Auss and Europe. Nice little piece of history anyway - I'll get the info onto here and you blokes be the judge.

 

Thanks Heaps oneTrack for the tip about the generator, I hadn't really thought about that, A series Hybrid config is the way that the Auto industry is favouring, so I'll dig through my pile of motors and stuff. I spent a while with OPE, Outdoor Power Equipment under Australia best Master service tech. so I might already have something leftover that I can start looking at straight away. Any one having issues with their motor just drop me a line - I might know something their.

 

I'll be off work for a little while soon so I will have a chance to publish info on what I have engines & motors wise, at least for the testing phase and I will put some info here on the Topology options for the motor drive / engine / redrive with combiner and electrics, as i see it. I'm no engineer though.

 

The topology will be more of a Weightology, induction motor would be great but heavy - that's what experiments are for !

 

 

[onetrack]

induction motor would be great but heavy - that's what experiments are for!

Actually, the weight of the new design electric motors isn't a huge problem.

There are a number of excellent design, latest technology, modest weight electric motors out there. Seimens are leading the pack in that area - but Yuneec is right up there, just behind them.

 

You can now get Yuneec 40HP electric motors that weigh only 20 kgs.

 

Where the weight problem for aviation purposes is still a burden, is in the batteries.

 

To get adequate battery power reserves, even with the latest technology, you need a very substantial amount of weight of batteries.

 

No-one has yet produced a lightweight battery, because weight is of secondary concern in current battery development.

 

Power output increases and fast recharging, is what all the battery researchers and developers are currently chasing.

 

Personally, I believe supercapacitors will play an important part in future electric motive power development.

 

The CSIRO did a lot of research work over many years in the 1990's and early 2000's, on coupling supercapacitors with batteries for electric motive power - mostly centred around electric vehicles.

 

The CSIRO research in this area has apparently declined - probably due to funding cuts, and possibly due to other commercial developers with deeper pockets, and more resources, pursuing the same style of development and research.

 

However, the CSIRO did go into Joint Venture with a lead-acid battery manufacturer to produce a combined battery and supercapacitor, specifically for ground-based energy-storage purposes. It's called the UltraBattery.

 

The UltraBattery is backed by a large lead-acid battery manufacturers consortium (ALABC), who are fighting to keep L-A batteries competitive with other batteries. L-A batteries will always have a major weight penalty, though.

 

UltraBattery® Energy Storage: The New Dimension in Lead-Acid Battery Technology

 

Some current information below on Yuneec electric motor offerings.

 

Yuneec Adds to Airplane, Motor Lineup - Sustainable Skies

 

Seimens are concentrating on much bigger electric motors, they see the potential market area as being in the 350HP range and up. They are concentrating on producing hybrid power for sizeable commercial aircraft.

 

Electromobility: Electrically Powered Flight

 

These blokes are on the right track for the RA market, and I expect we will see further development and increased usefulness of electric motive power from them, in the next 2 or 3 years.

 

 

 

[onetrack]

Toshiba have announced a "brand-new high-density lithium-ion battery technology", that can be recharged at lightning speeds, with minimal threat to cell longevity.

 

This technological advance looks to be a major step forward in electric power storage, and it will be interesting to see how long it is before it becomes commercially available.

 

Toshiba are talking "fiscal year 2019" for the projected entry period for commercial availability.

 

https://www.carshowroom.com.au/news/toshiba-s-new-battery-gives-you-320km-in-6-minutes/?utm_source=CSR+Newsletter&utm_campaign=7f14bd98b5-CSR+Weekly+Wrap+-+November+3rd+2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f85b6ed6b3-7f14bd98b5-57625401

 

The only thing that could crimp Toshiba's plans, is some company such as Toyota, producing a viable solid-state battery very soon. My money is on Toshiba at present.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Welcome Elwarra. . . .as Onetrack has mentioned, {Quote} Welcome to RF, Brad. I'm sure you'll find a wealth of knowledge here, there are some very highly qualified, highly experienced, and intelligent contributors here -{Quote}

 

I'm here too, and know very little about battery technology BUT am Intensely interested in this subject mate.. . .

 

 

Phil.

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Welcome Elwarra.

 

It's pleasing to hear of someone aiming to develop something new. I'm sure hybrids are worth pursuing. Personally I think the series hybrid has it over the parallel, but nonetheless I will be watching your approach with great interest.

 

There has been a lot of discussion on the subject and of course there's plenty of prior art worth sifting through.

 

I doubt you'll ever find a use for existing camping-style generators, the small ones at around 900W would be next to useless since the minimum useful power, even for a range extender, would need to be at least 15hp rather than less than 1hp and it would need to have a power-to-weight ratio around 10-12 times better than those generators.

 

If you haven't already, I would recommend that you join the Ultra-Electric Facebook Group. Also, there is invaluable and very considered information in this thread - Hybrid Power: IC engine to generator to motor

 

Good luck with it and please start a dedicated thread to tell us of your progress, I'm sure there are many here that could provide valuable input for you. A tip for you on that subject - make sure you choose a good thread title that will be easily searchable in future (give it some relevant tags for the search function too) because you can't change the title later, and I'm sure it will become a very popular thread and a valuable resource for the future.

 

 

[onetrack]

For extensive battery information, I've found I can't go past the Battery University website. The bloke running it is a Swiss-Canadian, and he knows his stuff when it comes to batteries (of all types) - because he operates a sizeable business in Canada (Cadex), producing battery analysers, battery chargers, battery maintenance and testing devices, and custom battery packs.

 

The amount of battery information this bloke gives out freely is amazing. On the Li-ion page below, I found out that you can't trickle-charge Li-ion batteries, because it causes metallic plating of Lithium within the battery, and this renders it unsafe.

 

This gent has written a definitive handbook on batteries - "A Handbook on Rechargeable Batteries for Non-engineers" - and it's on its 4th edition.

 

This bloke is that clever, he even designed a rotary engine similar to a Wankel, and even got Wankel to study it.

 

Wankel was impressed, saying there was little doubt the principle of his engine was quite workable - but the extremely high manufacturing costs made it unlikely it would be a commercial success.

 

Charging Lithium-Ion Batteries