October 14, 2022, ©. Leeham News: Last week, we defined the phases of an eVTOL mission that shall show us the typical range and endurance of the eVTOLs of a hybrid vectored thrust/lift and cruise eVTOL, similar to a Vertical VX4, Figure 1.
Several parts of the energy consumption calculations are complex, and surprisingly it’s not the vertical parts. We go through why and how we calculate the energy consumed for the mission.
October 7, 2022, ©. Leeham News: Last week, we discussed the reality of mass fractions for certified aircraft. There is an abundance of statistics on projects that have gone through the arduous development and certification phase, which always turns out heavier than projected.
Using such statistics, we have a base from which to fly a typical hover and cruise eVTOL design and see what we get in terms of energy consumption and range.
September 23, 2022, ©. Leeham News: Last week, we looked into the hardware needed for the Flight Control System (FCS) of the eVTOLs in development.
We could see the redundancy of the FCS had to be extensive as the tricky hover to forward flight transition demanded a full-time Fly By Wire concept with no direct mode backup.
Yet the FCS hardware demands are not the main problem of a safe eVTOL FCS. The pilot interaction is. Not because it’s tricky. Because every project does it their way.
September 16, 2022, ©. Leeham News: We discussed one of the critical systems for an eVTOL over the last weeks, the battery system, its cells, and its management system.
Another critical system for a VTOL is its Flight Control System (the FCS).
September 9, 2022, ©. Leeham News: Over the last weeks, we have discussed the cells that make up the battery system for an eVTOL.
The battery system has 10,000 cells or more. All these must, on an individual level, be managed to ensure they operate inside their allowed values. The Battery Management System, BMS, has this responsibility. It’s one of the most critical safety systems in an eVTOL.
September 2, 2022, ©. Leeham News: This is a summary of the article Part 35P, Lilium battery cells.
It discusses the requirement the Lilium jet principle puts on its battery cells and how this is solved, both with a slightly different cell type and with some operational adaptations.
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September 2, 2022, ©. Leeham News: This is a complementary article to Part 35, Lilium battery cells. It discusses the requirement the Lilium jet principle puts on its battery cells and how this is solved, both with a modified cell type and with some operational adaptations.
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August 26, 2022, ©. Leeham News: This is a complementary article to Part 34, eVTOL battery cells. It discusses the trickiest system on an eVTOL, the battery system, and its key component, the battery cells.
The Lithium-Ion cells in an eVTOL battery system are the core of the energy supply system. The cells are of a high power and energy type and must be used and managed correctly to last long and be safe.
August 26, 2022, ©. Leeham News: This is a summary of the article Part 34P, eVTOL battery cells. It discusses the main component of the battery system, the battery cell.
The Lithium-Ion cells in an eVTOL battery system are the key components of the energy supply system. The cells are of a high power and energy type and must be used and managed correctly to last long and be safe.
August 19, 2022, ©. Leeham News: This is a summary of article Part 33P, eVTOL batteries. This article discusses the trickiest system on an eVTOL, the battery system.
The battery system supplies the energy to the VTOL, and given today’s and tomorrow’s battery technology; it’s a tight resource that needs a lot of pampering.