Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Or is it the quieter, more efficient aircraft of the future?

Posted on May , 09, 2012 by Ben Sampson

It was interesting to see the images produced by a recent NASA competition, which asked engineers to imagine what the cleaner, quieter aircraft of the future will look like.

Although the pictures are pretty, it beggars the question what is being developed now to make aircraft more efficient and quieter. Around about the same time the pictures were released, the European clean tech aviation research programme, Clean Sky, issued a call for more proposals in areas such as smart fixed wing aircraft, green rotorcraft and eco design, albeit to not as much fanfare as the NASA competition.

The EU Clean Sky Initiative was started in 2008 and has over 400 industrial participants, including large firms such as EADS and Airbus and many SMEs. The aim of Clean Sky is to develop the technology to reduce the CO2 and noise emissions of aircraft by almost a third by 2020. Its total budget of €1.6 billion is funded 50% by the European Union and 50% by the aeronautical industry.

Clean Sky has already produced several interesting concepts. One of the most promising is the “Open Rotor”, an engine where the frame around the "fan" stage is removed. This enables an increased airflow to go through two open or “non-ducted” contra-rotating stages, leading to a large performance increase. One of the major issues with this design is how to reduce the noise such engines produce. Led by Rolls-Royce and Snecma, the first flight tests for open rotor engines are scheduled for 2015.

“Laminar wing” technology also has great potential, with anticipated fuel savings of up to 4% in aircraft. Laminar wings are designed to eliminate the small scale turbulences that occur on wings to reduce drag. The first laminar wing has been manufactured using new manufacturing technologies and the first wind tunnel tests conducted. GKN Aerospace is now developing and evaluating the initial concept work further, with the aim of producing components that can be tested by 2015.

Both of these technologies show great potential and could be features in the aircraft of the future to make them more efficient and quieter.

Japanese project offers next generation of EV tech

Posted on May , 08, 2012 by Ben Sampson

It is widely accepted that the limited range of electric vehicles (EVs) is the largest barrier to their introduction.

Current battery and materials technology limits the range and size of EVs. Combined with the EVs’ relatively high cost, “range anxiety” as it has been termed, puts off most consumers from a purchase. Why restrict yourself to a 100km range, when the whole idea of a personal vehicle is to enhance your mobility?

There are workarounds. Hybrids such as the Toyota Prius and the Chevrolet Volt overcome range anxiety by combining electric motors with a petrol engine to reduce emissions. Hybrids reduce emissions now, but many engineers see them merely as a bridging technology until battery technology matures.

Another alternative is to install battery-swapping or fast charging infrastructure, such as project better place. However, the development of such infrastructure is expensive, takes a long time and is also not without its engineering challenges.

The best option in the end must be to develop EVs and power systems that can compete with the range of fossil fuel vehicles. Japanese initiative Sim-Driveaims to develop that technology and demonstrate it for other manufacturers to use.

The project, which has been running for two years, is a spin-out from Keio University, and is funded by its 34 industrial participants, including Hitachi, Bosch, Dassault Systems, PSA Peugeot Citroen and Toyota. The development team recently announced it had achieved a range of 351km using its “in-wheel” motor system and a 24.5kWh capacity battery. Importantly, the car also offers the same amount of cabin space as a large car.

This range represents a step change over current offerings. The G-Wiz offers a measly 80km range, the Mitsubishi Imiev has a 110km range, and the Nissan Leaf 160km. The project aims to start mass production by 2014. If the rather strange styling can be remedied, the technology looks like a step in the right direction for EVs.

The video below gives more details about the car.

Do electric supercars have a future?

Posted on May , 01, 2012 by Ben Sampson

There has been a bumper crop of electric supercar announcements this week, which gives an opportunity to consider the role this breed of supercar is playing.

Croatian firm Rimac announced that its Concept_One supercar is now available to order. It has a top speed limited to 300km/h, and does 0-100km/h in 2.8 seconds. Rimac claims a range of 600km on a single charge.

Work is also progressing on the Audi e-tron, with a fleet of test cars ready to be sent out. The car will be powered by a 312bhp electric motor and accelerate to 0-100km/h in 4.8 seconds, Auto Express reports.

In addition, although not strictly a pure electric vehicle, speculation is mounting that the next Ferrari supercar will be a petrol / electric hybrid. The car will also feature a Kinetic Energy Recovery System of the type pioneered in F1 to recover energy from braking.

Electric supercars are appealing to engineers because of the opportunities an electric powertrain gives to boost performance. The strongest criticism of them is that their limited range makes them impractical. The Rimac Concept_One is probably unable to sustain its top speed for very long. They also sell in such small numbers, it can be alleged that they are insignificant environmentally and merely an opportunity for companies to flex their engineering muscles.

As the Concept_One proves, and as demand for the Tesla electric supercar has shown, the demand exists. The technical advancements made in their development – improving the efficiency and effectiveness of electric motors and batteries for example, are valuable if they trickle down to the mainstream.

Also in the past, most electric cars have suffered from looking simultaneously peculiar and dowdy. Supercars are not peculiar and dowdy, they look cool. At the very least, these vehicles will help electric cars enter the mainstream as objects of desire for speed freaks.