In general, Magnax seems to be focusing on automotive, which changes the driving factors in the design significantly (partial load efficiency becomes very important, cost is #1, etc). In the aircraft world, Magnix has…
On Wisconsin!
Yes, this is one variation of what is referred to as "in-slot cooling". Keep in mind that putting coolant inside the slot removes precious conductor cross-sectional area. There is a tradeoff to be analyzed, and in some…
Yeah, there are a lot of factors that play into this. A couple things come to mind: 1) Considering megawatt-class machines are necessary for many future applications, the mass of the motor+inverter+gearbox (especially…
Using the simple drag polar approach, D = A*v^2 + B/v^2 (D is total drag, first term is parasitic drag, second term is lift-induced drag) dD/dv = 0 where v = (B/A)^(1/4) Plug in v = (B/A)^(1/4) D = sqrt(AB) + sqrt(AB),…
We are definitely saying the same thing in very different ways. Just using the drag polar approach and neglecting second-order effects (assume negligible dependence on Re, sufficiently subsonic so negligible impact of…
Yep! SiC was part of the design DNA from the beginning.
It's a common misconception that different ways of connecting and/or driving coils can emulate a CVT, multi-speed gearbox or single speed gear reduction. The maximum continuous torque of a motor is purely a function of…
a LOT of energy is required to fly supersonic- IMO the energy storage side (battery and/or hydrogen fuel cell) has a long way to go to make supersonic flight remotely feasible.
Yes, the range-optimal speed is where the parasitic drag is equal to the lift-induced drag. If you go through the analysis, the air density drops out of the range equation if you assume are operating at the…
To add to what Jason said- The characteristic current of the machine is roughly the same as the maximum inverter current, so at maximum power the power factor is between 0.7-0.8. This also means the flux weakening…
Tight integration removes an entire housing and cold plate from the inverter design (++ specific power). Allowable SiC die temperatures are ~175 C these days, which is pretty awesome. The inverter and motor are on…
The phenomenon is due to Paschen's law (there is a good wikipedia article on it). The breakdown potential of a gas is minimized at some pressure, and in the case of air, that pressure is < 1 atm, and corresponds to a…
Yes, thermal conductivity is of the utmost importance at the continuous current densities we are designing for. That being said, typically the effective thermal conductivity of the winding (perpendicular to the axis of…
Aluminum has the best conductivity/mass out of all of the common conductors. Motors are actually more volume constrained than mass constrained for the windings, which is why copper is typically used there instead.
Ampaire (among others) is already making great strides in general aviation. With significant improvements in specific energy (see QuantumScape, HyPoint) and specific power improvements (what we are working on) coming in…
For our technology demonstrator, we have a pretty small rotor. Future direct drive designs (typically higher power as well) will have much larger diameters. I can't be too specific, but you can probably get an idea of…
Certainly. Infrastructure is actually one of the biggest technological challenges for flight electrification. This is one area where hydrogen / fuel cell might have a leg up since it can physically/geographically…
Well, you would need significant energy storage either in the form of batteries or hydrogen + fuel cells as well :) Our technology demonstrator is a 250 kW machine, but we have plans to scale up to the megawatt class in…
Silver is crazy expensive compared to copper, and the tradeoff isn't worth 6%. Also, 3d-printing pure copper is relatively new, and I'm not sure there is as much of a business case for 3d-printing silver (from the…
Not exactly what Talyn Air is doing, but along the same lines- separating out the "lift/climb" vehicle from the "cruise" vehicle. It can actually be a very compelling design!
We take the 80/20 approach here. We start with analytical design (can be done pen on paper, but typically happens in excel/etc) to get a high-level view on the "continent" of design possibilities. This can be done…
Absolutely. It's easy to focus on comparing what we are working on with the other (few) electric solutions being built out there, but compared to combustion engines the specific power is a big step change. When you…
These are all great points- everything is very interconnected in these vehicles, and there is a lot of potential upside in high power density distributed propulsion (like on the Maxwell). In characterizing the…
I think most forms of assisted takeoff technology would reduce electrical power requirements for takeoff, but not put much of a dent in the climb power (unless you can catapult/ JATO all the way up to cruising altitude,…
In general, Magnax seems to be focusing on automotive, which changes the driving factors in the design significantly (partial load efficiency becomes very important, cost is #1, etc). In the aircraft world, Magnix has…
On Wisconsin!
Yes, this is one variation of what is referred to as "in-slot cooling". Keep in mind that putting coolant inside the slot removes precious conductor cross-sectional area. There is a tradeoff to be analyzed, and in some…
Yeah, there are a lot of factors that play into this. A couple things come to mind: 1) Considering megawatt-class machines are necessary for many future applications, the mass of the motor+inverter+gearbox (especially…
Using the simple drag polar approach, D = A*v^2 + B/v^2 (D is total drag, first term is parasitic drag, second term is lift-induced drag) dD/dv = 0 where v = (B/A)^(1/4) Plug in v = (B/A)^(1/4) D = sqrt(AB) + sqrt(AB),…
We are definitely saying the same thing in very different ways. Just using the drag polar approach and neglecting second-order effects (assume negligible dependence on Re, sufficiently subsonic so negligible impact of…
Yep! SiC was part of the design DNA from the beginning.
It's a common misconception that different ways of connecting and/or driving coils can emulate a CVT, multi-speed gearbox or single speed gear reduction. The maximum continuous torque of a motor is purely a function of…
a LOT of energy is required to fly supersonic- IMO the energy storage side (battery and/or hydrogen fuel cell) has a long way to go to make supersonic flight remotely feasible.
Yes, the range-optimal speed is where the parasitic drag is equal to the lift-induced drag. If you go through the analysis, the air density drops out of the range equation if you assume are operating at the…
To add to what Jason said- The characteristic current of the machine is roughly the same as the maximum inverter current, so at maximum power the power factor is between 0.7-0.8. This also means the flux weakening…
Tight integration removes an entire housing and cold plate from the inverter design (++ specific power). Allowable SiC die temperatures are ~175 C these days, which is pretty awesome. The inverter and motor are on…
The phenomenon is due to Paschen's law (there is a good wikipedia article on it). The breakdown potential of a gas is minimized at some pressure, and in the case of air, that pressure is < 1 atm, and corresponds to a…
Yes, thermal conductivity is of the utmost importance at the continuous current densities we are designing for. That being said, typically the effective thermal conductivity of the winding (perpendicular to the axis of…
Aluminum has the best conductivity/mass out of all of the common conductors. Motors are actually more volume constrained than mass constrained for the windings, which is why copper is typically used there instead.
Ampaire (among others) is already making great strides in general aviation. With significant improvements in specific energy (see QuantumScape, HyPoint) and specific power improvements (what we are working on) coming in…
For our technology demonstrator, we have a pretty small rotor. Future direct drive designs (typically higher power as well) will have much larger diameters. I can't be too specific, but you can probably get an idea of…
Certainly. Infrastructure is actually one of the biggest technological challenges for flight electrification. This is one area where hydrogen / fuel cell might have a leg up since it can physically/geographically…
Well, you would need significant energy storage either in the form of batteries or hydrogen + fuel cells as well :) Our technology demonstrator is a 250 kW machine, but we have plans to scale up to the megawatt class in…
Silver is crazy expensive compared to copper, and the tradeoff isn't worth 6%. Also, 3d-printing pure copper is relatively new, and I'm not sure there is as much of a business case for 3d-printing silver (from the…
Not exactly what Talyn Air is doing, but along the same lines- separating out the "lift/climb" vehicle from the "cruise" vehicle. It can actually be a very compelling design!
We take the 80/20 approach here. We start with analytical design (can be done pen on paper, but typically happens in excel/etc) to get a high-level view on the "continent" of design possibilities. This can be done…
Absolutely. It's easy to focus on comparing what we are working on with the other (few) electric solutions being built out there, but compared to combustion engines the specific power is a big step change. When you…
These are all great points- everything is very interconnected in these vehicles, and there is a lot of potential upside in high power density distributed propulsion (like on the Maxwell). In characterizing the…
I think most forms of assisted takeoff technology would reduce electrical power requirements for takeoff, but not put much of a dent in the climb power (unless you can catapult/ JATO all the way up to cruising altitude,…