July/August 2019

TRANSPORTATION n sales@aptpowerdrive.co.uk www.aptpowerdrive.co.uk 01442 212 671 SOUTHERN SALES 01543 687 810 MIDLANDS BUILD CENTRE 0141 885 4084 SCOTLAND Many industries rely on geared motors and drives. In today’s market, stocking complete geared motors is no longer the solution. To ensure a fast, reliable service and short lead times local assembly is the way forward. As the o cial Bonfiglioli BEST partner in the UK, APT Powerdrive is a build centre and has the ability to build inline and right angle geared motors from components within 2 hours. Geared Motors Worm, helical bevel & helical inline. Output torque up to 14,000Nm. Planetary Gearboxes 300 series inline and right angle. Output torque up to 1.25 million Nm. Heavy Duty Gearboxes HDO & HDP series. Torque range 5,000 to 194,000Nm. 37 www.drivesncontrols.com July/August 2019 converted rapidly to carry freight, with its low-noise characteristics opening up new possibilities for freight flights at night. The Beha – which has an estimated pricetag of $4m – will combine a 1,600hp (1,200kW) turboprop propulsion system with a 500kW+ electric motor and will have a range of more than 1,800km. It will be able to fly using electric-only propulsion for 15 minutes and to be fuelled using new aviation biofuels, thus eliminating the need for fossil fuels. Faradair hopes to start flight trials by 2022 and may later develop all-electric planes, although certification of such aircraft is thought to be unlikely before 2030. In 2016, Faradair formed a joint venture, called Hybraero, with the Banbury-based automotive technology developer Prodrive. The JV aims to develop a hybrid propulsion system that combines a 300hp (224kW) internal combustion engine, twin electric motors (delivering another 300hp) and a battery pack. This system could directly replace many of the propulsion systems currently used in general aviation. It would allow 10 minutes of electric-only flight and would be able to switch between propulsion sources in an emergency. One of the biggest HE projects so far is Airbus’E-Fan X demonstrator in which the plane-maker is replacing one of four jet engines in a conventional BAE 146 aircraft with a 2MW electric motor, coupled to on- board generation system and battery. The craft, which is due to fly for the first time next year, will use the electrical system to provide extra power for take-off, as well as saving fuel. The project consortium includes Rolls-Royce and Cranfield University. In the US, a start-up called Wright Electric is developing a nine-seat hybrid-electric plane for the private aviation market and is hoping to conduct its first test flight by the end of this year. Wright hit the headlines last year when EasyJet announced that it was collaborating with Wright on plans for a 180-seater commercial electric aircraft with a range of 540km which, rather ambitiously, they predicted could be flying within a decade. On a muchmore modest scale, André Borschberg, one of the pilots who flew the solar-powered Solar Impulse craft around the world a few Ampaire’s Electric Eel hybrid-electric aircraft is adapted from a conventional Cessna and is due to enter trials with an airline in Hawaii later this year

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