A Better Motor Is the First Step Towards Electric Planes

[onetrack]

Hi Folks - Below is an interesting article on electric motor development for aircraft, by the Magnix company, from "Wired" magazine.

 

On the same page is a fascinating video about the mind-boggling Stratolaunch space rocket launch aircraft - and if you get to the end of that - a video about the new Gravity Jet Suit development! 

 

https://www.wired.com/story/magnix-electric-plane-motor/

 

 

[facthunter]

 How about having a motor  in every wheel of road vehicles. No silly drive train to fail .Electro regenerative brakes brakes on each wheel. Motors can be lighter than a "conventional" brake disc set up.  Nev

 

 

[Litespeed]

Electric engines certainly are a very bright future for transporting us feeble humans. They are also damn fast and have huge torque. 

 

Friends laughed 20 years ago when I said man will fly electric and their use in cars would be common in 20 years. It was obvious when you understand the technology. 

 

 

[onetrack]

I'm looking forward to something driving the fan up front that doesn't vibrate, has a huge amount of torque from rest, and which is highly efficient as it turns all its inputted energy into constant rotary motion with no reversing moments - and which doesn't lose 60% of its inputted energy to heat loss. Oh, and the silence is just a bonus.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

I guess we'll be able to add an electronic noise generator to make our silent plane sound like a Merlin or big round engine...

 

 

[turboplanner]

 How about having a motor  in every wheel of road vehicles. No silly drive train to fail .Electro regenerative brakes brakes on each wheel. Motors can be lighter than a "conventional" brake disc set up.  Nev

That's always been the plan, long term because of electric's ability to produce maximum torque from zero, but the problem is getting a battery design break through, which from my memory, the industry has been waiting for since the 1970s.

 

The reason is, on a motor vehicle, if we do use maximum torque, the battery drain is huge, affecting range too much.

 

 

[turboplanner]

I guess we'll be able to add an electronic noise generator to make our silent plane sound like a Merlin or big round engine...

In the RC electric aircraft used for racing the sound is magnificent, much like the Formula Ones before the recent engine change.