Powered gliders also can do dynamic soaring (DS), possibly autonomously, to achieve much longer distance flights, as they can avoid and escape areas/situations of low wind gradient using their motor.
Autonomous soaring is another factor that could be used for cargo to extend range - no passengers to worry about turbulence or slower flight times. Autonomous cargo planes also have the advantage that no weight and space needs to be dedicated to the human crew. Temperature and pressurization issues are gone for many cargo types. Electric motors can also run at very high altitudes.
As a sailplane pilot for 55 years on three continents and winning competitions etc etc I think I can ,without respect, completely debunk the basic physical implausibility of your assertion -- only in one in a thousand cases could any assistance from atmospheric effects do you any good ,if that even. (unless perhaps by 'cargo' you mean a single pizza (delivered cold) or something equally tiny .
Wow, impressively ignorant statement. Especially as you claim to have done sailplane competitions, where I expect you'll will have covered many hundreds of km's and speeds faster than road cargo, and on days you don't get to pick. Sure some days aren't good for soaring entirely without an engine, but most days there will be some helpful air movement if you have assistance from batteries and solar. And most cargo is not heated/cooled, it just gets shipped in containers and experience whatever weather the truck, train, plane or ship works with. Lots of cargo isn't time sensitive.
yes, i am wonder when we will have fully functioning autonomous gliders that can traverse the entire planet. we should see it within 5 years. there are videos of microsoft exploring the idea almost a decade ago
You could accomplish autonomous gliding you will not be able to accomplish autonomous soaring which just takes too much conscious thought, and autonomous system would not be able to identify lift sources and make all the decisions needed.
Thermals are very small and to use the best lift near the core you must fly slowly in small circles --the only 'cargo you might carry would be a small, cold pizza or some such miniscule 'payload' --unrealistic inexperience combined with the megaphone of social media at it again -- how about rubber powered cargo aircraft ?@@soaringeagle
You could use very accurate maps, weather simulations and advanced sensors to predict rising air currents, then automatically chart a course that will give maximum range. Perhaps this combined with solar could give you infinite range even.
Or slap some data/simulation training to an ANN to create a soaring AI. Take themral sensor data, altitude, airspeed, acceleration&angular velocity, and maybe IR image of the ground to find and use thermals and good winds.
@@VacuousCat As stated, gliders are most appropriate for certain climate zones, namely pasrts of the tropical zones, partly dry zones in the area of the global climate headley cell of low latitude. In the temperate zone or area of the ferrell cell weather is mostly chaotic and unsteady. In winter there is little thermal activity. Additionally, thermal activity is in the very low airspace. So chances are small to use them on an industrial scale. No AI may alter this. However, any creation of current thermal and wind heat maps could ease the energy needed for flight transportation. Last, take care for the general aviation, heavily dependent on available lower airspace. Please.
@@randall172 In civil aviation, airships lack speed. In Cargo transportation, you need huge airships for a commercial break even. Since project cargolifter no on took the financial risk, developing such huge airships.
indeed. i've seen videos where birds use the temp difference of waves to power themselves up. intelligence is the most amazing of things and pretty soon we will have a trillion fold increase in our global intelligence we have no idea what will happen once we apply AI to these types of problems. put super intelligence on a plastic toy airplane and it might be able to go across the world and deliver anything for very very cheap
A video dedicated to the Antares 20E (Lange Aviation) would be good: Over 20 years old design, fully electric and L/D better than 50. Another video dedicated to the Archaeopteryx with electric motor and L/D of 28 at a weight of only 85Kg (without pilot) would be good!
this is one of my favorite subjects. I wish i could start this type of company. AI will make information costs go to near zero Solar will make energy costs go to near zero. And AI + Solar will make transportation costs go to near zero. An autonomous agent could potentially glide forever on little energy. imagine a delivery form the US to china being $5? its possible with AI and we will prob see this within the next 10 years. The world is really about to be transformed.
Thank you for another excellent video on this fascinating topic. Any chance of a year end summary of the technological advances and/or company updates of 2023?
I'm glad you mentioned the zipline system. I've seen other creators on the topic, but if the information is available to you, I'd love to hear a more technical breakdown.
@@ronaldglider Oh wow, that's interesting, thanks. Don't know how I missed that lol. Still think that's not as easily available as 350 wh/kg batteries no? Because that's something even I can just order online myself.
@@ronaldglider I do think the aviation industry is taking almost all of that output, they can pay way more than the car industry. For example if you look at Amprius and their 450 wh/kg or 500 wh/kg cells they are seemingly selling the majority of all their cells that way.
Well, given that the most fuel is used at taking off, and climbing to altitude, there is a possibility to use electric tow planes to launch these. This is kind of like a booster with space craft. The dead weight of low altitude high power propulsion is ejected at the beginning of the flight with the corresponding batteries. But do to the high power and low maintenace electric propulsion can also be used at this stage.
hi kistuszek, have you become a flat earther yet? If not I suggest viewing the 13 part series _what on earth happened_ in my about to learn how the earth is not a globe
The problem with batteries powered flight is range but what if the lift aircraft (the one pulling up) is electric you could charge it in between tow ups and get away with a small battery pack. Saw a Ted talk on using autonomous gliders high in the jet streams to get really far
Correct. I've personally invested my money and life into it. Our company RU-vid channel will reveal when our first aircraft is announced. Won't promote here else my comment will be deleted by mods.
There is some interesting new materials that would be interesting to see in flight,like the thin and light "humidity battery"membranes that make a little electricity from the humidity indifference on the underside of the glider wing,it's interesting because of unknown thermo-dynamic interactions with leading edge flight turbulence ,heat and lift
Fantastic video with good explanation of e-glider range equation! A small team of us, at Cranfield, studied basing a 600kg electric aircraft design on a glider to maximise lift-to-drag ratio. My proposal was to put half of the batteries in the wings to allow good aspect ratio without undue stresses in flight. The challenge is then to allow the same wing to handle heavy landings without undue root stresses, although carbon composite flexure can help by absorbing impact energy. To keep landing gear length & mass down, we selected twin rear ducted pusher fans. The one advantage of e-VTOL is that there are systems available now, like the Schubeler ePos-21, which offer ready solutions for fixed wing propulsion. We were conservatively estimating 500km for 2 seat version and 750km for single seat version. I'd like to think that at some point I can get a small team together and have a go detail designing it...
hi martingarrish, have you become a flat earther yet? If not I suggest viewing the 13 part series _what on earth happened_ in my about to learn how the earth is not a globe
@@flat-earther , my belief system is that the observable universe is round. To test this belief might cause reality to implode. This would leave us in a bad bad place...😱
@@martingarrish4082 okay. BTW martingarrish, what do you think about all gubments drawing a line around you and saying you are not allowed to leave?(Antarctic Treaty) If you don't know what I mean, read my about tab.
@@martingarrish4082 yes I don't like wasting more time because youtube censors comments. I just opened a door of information to you and you get to decide what you do with it
I really like this idea!! For small payloads, (under 10 tons) I think it would work great. Used in tandem with heavy or very heavy lift airships could cut transport costs and provide a Freight Locomotive cost curve without the rail infrastructure and upkeep.
You could have an autonomous tractor unit fixed to the fuselage to get the glider to altitude so the glider isn't carrying this weight to the destination allowing more cargo.
@ElectricAviation , Your audio is greatly improved!!!! Sounds like you may have gotten a new mic and perhaps some audio processing equipment or software. It's a very nice improvement!!! Although, I do have to say that I have always enjoyed your videos!!!!
hi bigfoot8, have you become a flat earther yet? If not I suggest viewing the 13 part series _what on earth happened_ in my about to learn how the earth is not a globe
Solar glider with batteries,did not think of that,,,,and oh my ,my idea of catapults and catchers is now real with cargo drones.thankyou so much for bringing us these fascinating scientific and historical development of electric aviation.what next a disc craft?
hi flechette, have you become a flat earther yet? If not I suggest viewing the 13 part series _what on earth happened_ in my about to learn how the earth is not a globe
What if we use lifting gas to increase the surface area for solar panels without adding weight. Essentially an airship that can land on its own without wasting gas. The increase in drag, while slowing down the aircraft, should not be enough to offset the benefits of having an increased energy output from solar panels and the lower energy demand for take off and landing (less batteries, smaller electric motors).
Future news reports: 1. Another cargo glider hacked enroute, all cargo stolen. 2. Another massive lawsuit looming against CG company after a glider crashed into a residential area.
hi benvandermerwe, have you become a flat earther yet? If not I suggest viewing the 13 part series _what on earth happened_ in my about to learn how the earth is not a globe
yes! wide box wings (bi-plane box wings, no tips, just vertical wall) rock. bi-planes have about 1.7x lift compared to single wing plane. also canard double wing planes, linearly after each other. multi-glider (multiple consecutive wide wings, more solar surface). almost a kite. maximal solar surface, and lift surface, and minimal weight of the wing, fabric or foldable plastic. kite is better as a glider. ask birds or God. triangle kite with two poles left/right is the best strength structure with flexible folding wing fabric structure. come on with the patents, no more patents. not your idea. possibly double triangle kite wings, to make them rectangles, or diamond symmetrical.
Sea take off. The wing js blown to increase the deag on the top sidea of the wing the weight is hoftes baxk to raise the wing facing a winfy dy the lift us set by the weight on a rail the lkad pulled fiwrad to the center of the uull and ountiil at the height required aboce the winds shear off , then the earyb runs arpubd then land by tge place its not there e?
I rhink in the brief sights of airplane since the pre war itlaina designer . The air speed is detrimental to flight and man. Tje speed is imortant to asife the air density and temp.amd the materila in any glider. Powered flight is in a swnsw impossbel fpr the human. Like the motor. Car . The rrick is reference have a reference by ny health i.must walk sir and mangeefers be they the banks . That then is set by oxyg0en amd that lkcjs the memmory of relative i can walk and i nnow im right . Di thus b😊y darl deep.night and the eys cry i will save you human
This doesn't make much sense at all, really. The gliders in WWII were used because the army needed to deliver troops to a combat zone en masse. Parachuting is too imprecise and puts the powered planes at risk. Gliders let them disengage the valuable powered craft before entering the most dangerous zones. On their own electric powered gliders make plenty of sense but they're never going to carry any significant amount of cargo. You're still going to be limited by the amount of energy they can collect from the solar cells for any trips of significant distance and that means the cargo capacity is going to be limited.
You have no practical understanding of the structural inefficiency of 'gliders' (sailplanes) where the wing mass increases so fast with span or size that there is no payload fraction possible --with solar power the concept is simply ridiculous - the round world solar aircraft was indicative of the fragility and uselessness inherent plus the huge size just to lift one person -- batteries are another level of ridiculousness to add to this hare brained 'thought' . The existing passenger and cargo aircraft in airline use ARE optimized to give the best useful load to power etc balance. Hurel Dubois explored the potential for higher spans and L/d as did the NASA SUGAR project but still using viable propulsion . this is crap.
I have looked into that previously and it does not seem to be the reason; as if putting a 'hyphen' should do that in any case . The post below by 'robertosfeld' contains a hyphen, as does yours . I would normally connect, by 'hyphens', a compound thought rather than the less appropriate commas , as here . Let me see - using hyphens - at both ends of a sentence if this is so.
didn't happen , the round world (in 60 days almost) solar powered glider was Solar impulse from memory - papers on the concept of cargo gliders -even in trains with one tug - were published in the 50s but proved impractical -- solar energy can barely sustain the most refined EMPTY aircraft as already shown. Is that enough hyphens? let's see .
hi rossnolan, have you become a flat earther yet? If not I suggest viewing the 13 part series _what on earth happened_ in my about to learn how the earth is not a globe
Dear Sir, these unqualified comments do not contribute to advancing the discussion here in a meaningful way. You may not know, but there are touring motor gliders and powered sailplanes and even cargogliders. They have all significant difference conceptual design. The main advantage is the ability to fly long distances without or very few power if the weather condition is supporting.
You never heard of a self launching motor glider glider is a plain capable of sustaining flight without power. A glider can have power can have a jet engine several do have jet engines they just don’t rely on power to get from place to place
When using electric power you climb as high as possible then continuously descend in a cruising glide to get the most distance. Do you even electric aviation bro?
hi yukon, have you become a flat earther yet? If not I suggest viewing the 13 part series _what on earth happened_ in my about to learn how the earth is not a globe
@@yukon4511 yes. BTW yukon, what do you think about all gubments drawing a line around you and saying you are not allowed to leave?(Antarctic Treaty) If you don't know what I mean, read my about tab.
Would require totally robotic loading and unloading which means quite a lot of volume to compensate the robotic infrastructure at the departure and arrival
Motor-(electric)-Glider would be a very Frugal Flight. (Just not safe/fast/"on schedule" enough to move human "beans." (As the fellow doing the Posting noted, they did well enough, while Hitler was still breathing. Might be "Time" to check, and see if this is viable - considering that Materials Science and "Elec-Tek" has Advanced considerable, since the nineteen-forties.)
Motor-(electric)-Glider would be a very Frugal Flight. (Just not safe/fast/"on schedule" enough to move human "beans." (As the fellow doing the Posting noted, they did well enough, while Hitler was still breathing. Might be "Time" to check, and see if this is viable - considering that Materials Science and "Elec-Tek" has Advanced considerable, since the nineteen-forties.)
The wartime assault gliders had to be towed by another aircraft to their drop-off point, and they rarrely flew again because they landed in places that aircraft couldn't land or take off from. Single use throwaway cargo gliders are not going to be a viable business. If you need to land at an airport so as to be able to use it again, then you may as well use the tow aircraft for your cargo, which is what did and does happen. This guy is mixing two totally different types of glider, which have completely different designs. The assault glider is boxy with a poor gliding capability, that has to be towed all of the way until it crash lands at its destination. The soaring glider is as light as possible, with long wings and is designed to be able to harvest the lift contained in thermals, and is largely dependent on weather to provide this lift. Gliders can travel long distances, but are dependent on the weather being suitable all of the way. These long distance record flights were a challenge, not the start of a regular service. The motor glider bit is really just a cheat to get more altitude when the weather doesn't work for you, or you can get into the air without a cable or air tow. If you run the motor all of the time then it is an airplane not a glider, and glider plan forms are not optimum for a powered plane. While there have been some impressive electric plane firsts, they have only served to demonstrate the current inadequacies of the solar battery model. The electric plane that went round the world took several months to do it and barely carried more than the pilot. The fossil fuelled version did it in 24hrs iirc. Who wants their journey to take months instead of days even if it is only light cargo. And that is the nub, a glider will never be able to carry the cargo of a well designed plane, and never be able to choose its own weather independent route. Electric planes may have a future, but it is a long time in the future, currently fossil fuels have pound for pound much higher energy density than batteries, and for aircraft pounds matter. Mixing two different modes of glider misses the point of why they were designed as they were. It is similar to mixing an ocean liner with a speed boat and saying we could have 100mph ocean liners or cargo ships. The physics and economics says no. That is why we had ocean liners and we had speed boats, but not a combo. The same goes for long distance cargo gliders.
