Electric propulsion for the aviation industry is seeing an increase in recent times as batteries have improved beyond measure. It is believed that jet engines could be replaced by electric motors for international travel in the coming years. Siemens has been doing some great work in this field, and they have now come up with a new electric motor that can provide five times more power than a traditional engine.
Siemens project team has specially designed the motor for a lightweight aircraft that is only 50 Kg in weight. The motor installed in the plane can provide a thrust up to 260 KiloWatts. As a result, the power to thrust ratio breaks the previously held record by a huge margin. This aircraft opens the possibility of larger aircraft having this kind of power in their engines. Up to 2 tons of weight and a hundred passengers can eventually be accommodated in that plane.
The main trick was to reduce the engine weight. The team developed and used Cobalt-Iron alloy in the stator which led to better magnetizability than ever. Along with the arrangement of the rotor’s permanent magnets, the magnetic flux is such that there is a minimal use of any material as compared to before. Another weight-reducing technique is to use directly cooled non-conducting liquid like Silicon Oil or Galden. The use of such a motor with combustion engines will also improve the overall fuel consumption by 25% according to the Siemens’ researchers. The total costs of the plane will also fall by 12 percent as an immediate effect.
The company is now working with Airbus to develop Hybrid engines for commercial purposes. The 2-ton 100 passenger unit is being currently worked on, and it is slated to go commercial by 2035. This technology will have great effects on reduction of emissions and having a cleaner environment in the future as it reduces the combustion required to fly the aircrafts.