Solar Planes : Could It Be The Future Of Flying?
As the world becomes increasingly worried about the state of pollution and the effects that it is having on our planet, you can not help but to become intrigued in how technological developments may influence the direction of things over the next few years.
It is no secret that flying in modern planes puts a significant burden on our increasingly fragile eco-system and attempts have been in place for a long time to find alternatives to the power hungry, carbon spewing monsters that dominate our skies. So it gave me a little smile when I saw this video of the Solar Impulse NB-SIA taking to the skies.
Now, I know that it doesn’t seem like this is a very practical piece of machinery and it’s not looking likely that this will replace the 747′s and all the large passenger planes just yet, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.
The designers behind this plane have some great goals in sight, with the major one being a 36 hour flight, that’s day and night, without the use of any fuel. I can’t help but get excited as the images of a fueless avionics future flash through my mind.
The planes consists of 11,628 solar panels with the charge stored in lithium polymer batteries. Now these two components seem to be the most constraining parts of the plane. The solar cells are only 22% efficient, which they chose because of their weight, but with the increasing speed at which solar cells are being developed, it won’t be long before something more suitable becomes widely available. Energy storage is also pointing towards a really exciting exciting future. There are so many technologies being tested and released right now that who knows what storage-to-weight ratios will will be like in the not too distant future. Currently, the accumulators in the Solar Impulse HB-SIA takes up a quarter of the weight of the entire plane. When that weight can come down, then other parts of the plane can be scaled accordingly.
One part of the plane that may be able to be scaled down with future developments are the wings, which on this model have a span of 63.4m. This is just under the wingspan of a 747, yet the overall weight of the Solar Impulse is only 1,600kg about the weight of a car and this is all pulled along by 4x10HP electric motors. Crazy.
The engineering milestones that have been accomplished with developing the technology of the Solar Impulse HB-SIA give a real glimpse into the future.
The thought of being able, within my lifetime, to fly in an all-electric, non-polluting passenger plane to my favourite destination, gets me jumping up and down with excitement.
Trends are changing. Technology is changing. These two factors add up to what is going to be an amazingly exciting period, not only within the aviation industry, but in every industry on this planet.
To learn more visit the Solar Impulse team here.
