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Wright Electric Advances Plans For Electric Airliner
Wright Electric has completed what it says will be a key element in its plans to develop an electric propulsion system that could potentially power a single-aisle airliner to enter commercial service by 2030. The U.S. company reported late last week that it has successfully demonstrated the inverter that will convert DC power from batteries to the AC power that will drive electric motors. The next phase of development work will now focus on integrating the inverter with a 2 MW motor that the… (www.ainonline.com) Plus d'info...
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AC electric motors only make sense in a stationary, terrestial application. Why perform the inefficient conversion from the DC current provided by batteries to AC?
ACs are more efficient, which translates **generally** into greater range for a given amount of energy. They are also generally lighter and more reliable than DC. Wright has probably factored those advantages, along with their high efficiency inverters, into their current strategy.
Multi-phase A/C motors allow direct control of the RPM if your inverters can vary the frequency of the A/C. This is why the variable speed HVAC systems convert to DC then re-convert to A/C, to be able to easily control the RPM of A/C compressor and House Fan.
Development of a large scale electric propulsion system for aircraft application is the new development that we should look forward to as a replacement for the present engines emitting tons of oxides of carbon. The energy source may initially be a battery pack with limitations in payload-range capability but this would migrate to hybrid and eventually to hydrogen cells to exploit unrestricted performance envelopes. Its exciting to note that one can hope to see this disruptive innovation before the end of this decade.
Electric driven ACFT with batteries makes no sense because of weight, unless you want transport zero passengers !
Battery weight is definitely a concern but it is offset by no (or little) weight of liquid fuel.
But you have to carry the battery all the way from origin to destination. That can't be efficient.
With liquid fuel, much of it is burnt en route, only the safety margin has to be carried to the destination.
With liquid fuel, much of it is burnt en route, only the safety margin has to be carried to the destination.
Yes, burnt into air! Not good.
