Carbon fibre battery airframe.............?
A bit of hope for us all in a electric aircraft that makes sense. We all bemoan the fact that even with the light lithium batteries they still weigh lots for a useful pack and cost a bomb both in money and environmentally. So we really need battery systems that weigh less for a specific power need, and meet a goal of being useful as compared to a gas aircraft system.
BAE have developed a way of making a cabon fibre material impregnated with Nickel to make a battery from any item you can use carbon fibre material for. They have made a racing car wing that is the battery for the ancillaries in a electric racecar. They have also made a small drone- the airframe is the battery.
So we apply this to a mansized aircraft and have a carbon airframe that is also the battery, that would mean all that redundant weight of a battery can be actually the same weight of airframe which we needed anyway.
Sure the material would weigh a little more but by having say 200lbs of battery needed transformed into only 100lbs because the rest of the needed capacity is actually the airframe, sure sounds good.
The tech is still improving and intial levels of charge are low but they have better things in developemnt approaching a lead acid and this will improve over time. Sure it is not Lithium efficient yet but the mass used for the battery is the airframe - so almost weightless, for our purposes.
I can imagine a very efficient electric aircraft with a carbon battery airframe, a small lithium pack and the latest tech in ultra thin solar cells moulded in the wings etc.
Maybe a version of this carbon material could have as a top layer a solar cell as a charger already part of the material just apply it to a mould and then add battery layers on top?
Here is a BBC News - BAE provides details of 'structural battery' technology
Food for thought.
A bit of hope for us all in a electric aircraft that makes sense. We all bemoan the fact that even with the light lithium batteries they still weigh lots for a useful pack and cost a bomb both in money and environmentally. So we really need battery systems that weigh less for a specific power need, and meet a goal of being useful as compared to a gas aircraft system.
BAE have developed a way of making a cabon fibre material impregnated with Nickel to make a battery from any item you can use carbon fibre material for. They have made a racing car wing that is the battery for the ancillaries in a electric racecar. They have also made a small drone- the airframe is the battery.
So we apply this to a mansized aircraft and have a carbon airframe that is also the battery, that would mean all that redundant weight of a battery can be actually the same weight of airframe which we needed anyway.
Sure the material would weigh a little more but by having say 200lbs of battery needed transformed into only 100lbs because the rest of the needed capacity is actually the airframe, sure sounds good.
The tech is still improving and intial levels of charge are low but they have better things in developemnt approaching a lead acid and this will improve over time. Sure it is not Lithium efficient yet but the mass used for the battery is the airframe - so almost weightless, for our purposes.
I can imagine a very efficient electric aircraft with a carbon battery airframe, a small lithium pack and the latest tech in ultra thin solar cells moulded in the wings etc.
Maybe a version of this carbon material could have as a top layer a solar cell as a charger already part of the material just apply it to a mould and then add battery layers on top?
Here is a BBC News - BAE provides details of 'structural battery' technology
Food for thought.
