Electric sports plane the highlight of the e-flight initiative

Electric Power; a new mission:

The contemporary E-Flight electric project will benefit greatly by the maturation of technology since the initial studies were made. Using a purpose-built AeroConversions brushless DC cobalt motor, controller, and highly efficient battery and charging system, the E-Flight electric systems will be able to power a larger aircraft to higher top speeds with greatly increased endurance. E-Flight’s proof-of-concept prototype will use the flight proven Waiex airframe, flown single pilot only, so that the emphasis can be placed solely on powerplant research and development. Initial top speeds will reach approximately 130 mph, and endurance is expected to range between 25-45 minutes or longer, depending upon power usage on each individual flight.

The initial emphasis for the E-Flight proof-of concept aircraft has been shifted away from immediate pursuit of FAI speed records, although the possibility remains that those records could be obtained reasonably quickly after successful first flight. With the advanced state of the technologies concerned, the goal of the project is to develop and prove the application of the technology and pave the way for near-term electric powerplant Sonex and AeroConversions products for sale to the sport aviation marketplace and beyond.

The current state and growing popularity of electric powered model RC aircraft leads the layman to assume that an electric powered aircraft of this type is simply a matter of hooking a bigger battery to a bigger motor, charging it up in an hour or two and taking-off. While that is essentially true in raw principle, the reality of this project is that scaling-up these technologies in a viable manner presents significant challenges.

Electric Power - the AeroConversions Electric Motor:

Brushless DC cobalt motor technology has advanced significantly since 1994’s Flash Flight study, allowing the design team to now consider their use, however, just like before, a suitable brushless DC cobalt motor of this level of power output with an acceptable size and weight does not exist and can not be built and provided by a third party vendor without incurring unacceptable costs. As a result, the design team, in collaboration with Bob Boucher of Astro Flight, Inc., has designed and built a completely new AeroConversions motor.

This motor is the most powerful, lightest-weight, and efficient unit of this type ever produced. It is a 3 phase, 270 volt, 200 amp motor that will be over 90 percent efficient. It uses elegantly designed CNC machined anodized aluminum and nickel-plated steel parts in combination with “off the shelf” bearings, races, snap rings, magnets, etc.

The prototype AeroConversions motor is slightly larger than a 35 ounce coffee can and weighs approximately 50 pounds. The motor is a modular, scalable unit. The motor core’s design has modular sections that can be reduced to a lower-output, smaller motor (shortened in length), or added upon to make a larger motor with a higher power output.

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