Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer
Hybrid Electric Propulsion System for a VTOL/Multirotor Aircraft, Phase II
Project Introduction
LaunchPoint Technologies proposes to build a scalable hybrid electric propulsion system. LaunchPoint will build and fly a 1 kW hybrid electric vehicle and will build and bench test a 6 kW hybrid power source to demonstrate scalability to much larger systems. During the phase I, LaunchPoint showed the feasibility of a manned hybrid electric VTOL vehicle that can achieve the speed and fuel efficiency of a high aspect fixed wing aircraft while still providing VTOL capability for a commuter-type application. Using Fly-By- Wire techniques and applying it to electric aircraft propulsion can lead to highly reliable architectures which we call "Propulsion-By-Wire", providing a tremendous increase in reliability and safety of the vehicle compared to conventional VTOL architectures. In this phase II we propose to develop the hybrid power source (Battery, BMS, Gen-set, and hybrid controller) portion of a "Propulsion-By-Wire" system for 2 power levels. LaunchPoint will build and fly a 1 kW hybrid electric vehicle that will meet notional airworthiness requirements for flight over people, and will scale the hybrid power source to 6kW proving the potential scalability of the system.
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Anticipated Benefits
Multiple projects at NASA could benefit from a scalable hybrid propulsion system. Bill Fredricks Greased Lightning project has expressed interest in integrating our 1kW genset as soon as it becomes available into his subscale Greased Lightning project. A phase III continuation of this work could be directly applied to multiple larger scale NASA projects. Mark Moore's Leaptech fixed wing vehicle demonstrator could use a scaled-up version of our hybrid propulsion system in his vehicle as a range extender. The Heist program with Sean Clarke could also use a higher powered version of our hybrid power source on their test stand to help them perform their power sharing and distribution studies. There is a lot of interest in subscale hybrid propulsion systems to extend range on already built electric vehicles. Aerial camera operators who need extended duration for filming could have an immediate need for this technology once it is available along with any sUAV or drone that needs extended flight time. Scaling the hybrid propulsion system to larger sizes will enable new vehicle architectures allowing higher safety, reliability, and fuel efficiency. Many companies, including Boeing have expressed interest for both the subscale and larger scale systems.
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Primary U.S. Work Locations and Key Partners
| Organizations Performing Work | Role | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| LaunchPoint Technologies, Inc. | Lead Organization | Industry | Goleta, California |
Glenn Research Center
(GRC)
|
Supporting Organization | NASA Center | Cleveland, Ohio |
Primary U.S. Work Locations
-
California
-
Ohio
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Organizational Responsibility
Responsible Mission Directorate:
- Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD)
Lead Organization:
- LaunchPoint Technologies, Inc.
Responsible Program:
- Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer
Project Management
Program Director:
Program Manager:
Principal Investigator:
Project Duration
Start: May 2015
End: Nov 2017
Technology Maturity (TRL)
| Start: | 4 |
| Current: | 7 |
| Estimated End: | 7 |
Applied Research
Development
Demo & Test
Technology Areas
Primary:
- TX12 Materials, Structures, Mechanical Systems, and Manufacturing
- TX12.3 Mechanical Systems
- TX12.3.2 Electro-Mechanical, Mechanical, and Micromechanisms
Target Destination
Earth
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