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  • 15 minutes gives you just enough time to get high enough to do a autorotation.. Which I wouldn't want to try in a electric helicopter. :/ I could see this being usefull if you were putting a camera on it to take pictures because of less vibration.. But then why not just get a electric rc helicopter? Cheeper and you can still get your good pics.

  • 15 minutes duration.........worthless

  • teleprompter much?

  • amazing that there are no flight videos! im not impressed

  • @wristp1n it's because of the short flight time. By the time the videographer was ready to shoot, the thing has landed and shut down.

  • the first car ran on wood, you had to make a fire and wait for the water to heat up,

    one day everything will be electric. Trains,aircraft carriers, submarines, cruise ships. oh wait that is today.

  • Nikola Tesla says; FAIL!! Ha ha... I designed a car with no batteries!

    RIP sir. Your innovations would have been welcome in a non-capitalist Utopian society not based off of selling debt, mindless consumption and greed.

  • I give you B- Marvin...you may sit down now.

  • what a gimmick

  • Amazing helicopter!

    I wanna buy one!

  • 15 min after take off, May-day May-day, our helicopter's going down.

  • 1:12 someone doesnt like gya

  • They should post the crash test results for when the batteries run out..

  • Electric tail rotor? Only if it's quick reacting as a mechanical one.

  • @TheArfdog

    Direct taildrive is much bether. You can have the best tail rpm. Nothing will changes the pitch so you wouldn't notish a thing.

    Just google for fun under direct taildrive.

    With less rotating parts it would even use less power, although there is an additional motor and motor controller it still will use Less power and longer flight time's ;)

  • @Dragon69Fly Direct drive has worse response time compared to transmission drive. It takes milliseconds to send a signal, where a mechanical pitch control is instantaneous. Delayed control is bad, so direct tail drive is bad. It also won't save that much power.

  • @TheArfdog

    I think youre confused of the varible pitch for yaw controll.

    I was talking about powering or rotating the tail rotor not the pitch mechanic.

    Elecktro motor's are strong enough these day's

    Look for example to rc heli's

    a trex 450 wil fly around 8minute's with a transmission or belt drive.

    while you replace the transmission line or belt with a motor(qouted you won't change the pitch meganism)

    I get around 14minutes of flight time same battery, flying and windconditions.

  • @Dragon69Fly Ok, yeah maybe that's not a bad idea.

  • Honey! I'm going to the corner store to get some eggs, milk, cereal, chips, and toilet paper, in less than ten minutes. Love you honey, and be back soon! Man, I hope that damn battery charged last night. Otherwise, my insurance is about to go up. Or my family will get my life insurance policy payout. Great for those quick runs they told me.

  • The important question: Will it blend?

  • Comment removed

  • useless shit.

  • Awesome It will lead the way

  • Haven't we heard the news about Lithium-polymer batteries?! They're apparently lighter than Li-ion's, and even more efficient...............

  • @917kporsche these have been out for years... not saying your wrong

  • It won't be very quiet unless they kit it with some more advanced blades, like those whisper blades they're putting on some of the new military craft.

    Though just reducing vibration from the engine will go a long way to extending the life of the air frame.

  • yea ok but lets see it fly

  • Yes, yes, yes, but does it work?

  • Other than an attention grabber, what possible value does this helicopter have? Seriously, once the basic calculations where done to indicate a 15 minute flying time, someone should have scrapped the idea. I know inovation goes in small baby steps but, there also comes a point where your just putting together pieces with no real future advancement. Until battery packs are improved, any modern electric helicopter is a waste of time.

  • Your next step is an On Demand Hydrogen Fuel Cell, batteries are just to heavy for air-craft

  • Well someday, when you have batteries that weigh half as much, and provide six times the power, and need a quarter of the recharge time, you'd have youself a nice quiet lil' whirlybird.

    100 years ago, the Wright Flier wasn't very impressive, by today's standards, either.

    But, like the Wright Bros., you gotta start somewhere, and Sikorsky has. Good job!

  • Like this concept heli. Can't wait to see one fly. His eyes remind me of a Gowha'uld from Stargate.

  • In flight recharging may be somewhat risky

  • I would be scared enough driving an electric car because I would be afraid not to get home.

    Flying an electric helicopter...not going to happen for me.

  • They need to take a walk over to Tesla Motors, 5 years ago, they build a car that will beat a Ferrari, flat out in the quarter mile, hands down, it will smoke a Ferrari. That was like 5 years ago, on battery power alone... They've had RC Helicopters 4 years ago, that will lift 5 or 6 times their own weight, and the best that Sikorsky can come up with in 2010 (with 70+ years of building military grade Helicopters) is a knock off, of a 1960's crop duster Helo, that can get 15 mins of blade time..?

  • So the Oil companies and the elite now want to Control us with batteries now.. Figures.. are human batteries.

  • 15 minutes ... yeah ah ... totally useless. Just like the Chevy "exploding" Volt. Green Fascism is not fun.

  • 15min flight 15hours charging. haha just don't know when it gonna fully charge again after your flight.

  • 2:10 Poor man :(

  • the batterys look like guns and his teeth are blinding

  • Lose the fatty, and get a tall, shapely brunette to give the tech specs please.

  • @frazier1983 Except, "shapely brunette" and "tech specs" are pretty much a contradiction in terms.

  • an RC toy helicopter gives the same flying time of 15 minutes as well

  • 2 minutes of juice left. 15 minutes to shore. Hope that bitch can float.

  • if bell cobras go electric before i get to join the corps im going to be beond pissed

  • Put the electric motor at the hub of the rotor blades and you could simplify the mast machinery for tilting the rotor, especially for double rotor designs.

  • how much??

    

  • I think it's outstanding. But hears the problem. 15 mins and I bet some serious money went in to them batteries. Why can't you have a small generator that continuously tops up the bats. I no it might seem contradicting to have a combustion engine but it could be a little air cooled diesel converted to bio fuel. I think that that would work. But I'm no scientist or engineer so my plan would more than likely be flawed. But just an idea is all.

  • I wanna see it fly already!!

  • As long as they do not show that it actually can fly it is nothing but a dream...

  • what the hell is the point of this prototype and/ or project? there's absolutely no innovation here. what we would like to see is battery technology. what a waste of goddamned money. rich, stupid, bastards.

  • @thekaizer666 So R&D is a waste of money, then? No matter what tech you have around you right now there has been a ton of prototypes before the actual product. Prototyping is how new stuff gets developed.. They don't just wake up one day and go "so lets just build and produce a new mp3 player today. We'll get it right on the first go as always." If you knew the amount of effort that goes into R&D you'd understand why certain things are hella pricy.

  • @ronnysoeberg before the prototyping phase there needs to be a *proof of concept*. in this case, there ISNT; battery technology is the current bottleneck in such applications as these. I didnt diss R&D, and this is NOT R&D. Besides, it looks like this was a favour from some rich dad (shareholder) to his son (the nerd in the video) to produce such a "prototype". He can't even handle a simple interview!

  • @ronnysoeberg "Leave it to some mega corporate educated fools to design an electric helicopter that looks like every other helicopter ever made AND fly's for 15 minutes. This gets back to what I've been saying for years, that the corporate educational establishment is training you college grads to memorize, NOT to think with any great depth, but to just do pretty much what all the corporate educated goons before you did.

    danielvincentkelley 1 month ago" >> now thats more like it.

  • @ronnysoeberg "...gyrocopters are by FAR more efficient than helicopters, so why don't they just tilt the main rotor back ... that a clutch can be used to disengage the main rotor to fly it strictly as a gyrocopter, or engage the main rotor for hovering, vertical take off and solid control in high winds. Come to think of it, this heli design is pure crap. The VERTICOPTER is the future. Gravity plane + verticopter is best.

    danielvincentkelley 1 month ago" >>> THIS should have been more in vein

  • @thekaizer666 Verticopter seems completely useless. The whole body of the plane needs to be super flat for the whole rotating propeller assembly to be of any use.. So it's basically a 1-2 seater leisure craft.. No load carrying ability to speak of. That's pretty much what choppers are for. Vertical take off and landing, hovering, transport of wounded/soldiers/cargo to places with no landing strip etc. Verticopter can do none of that. It's like a flying car.

  • @ronnysoeberg hi, i cannot and did not claim that i am qualified as of yet to comment on alternative configs such as above, but the point that i was trying to put forward was that this particular project should have at least been at such a tangent e.g. the hybrids or electric cars were very focused on their aerodynamic (yet ugly) shapes, regenerative braking, engine coasting etc.. This project demonstrates nothing but "how a conventional helicopter looks like if we added batteries to it".

  • @ronnysoeberg to shoot closer to home, the latest super fast helicopters by sikorsky where the tail was facing backwards (x2? x3? im really lazy right now), now theres a prototype, with proof of concept, instead of just slapping rockets to the side of a conventional helicopter, or replacing the power train with a nuclear one, hoping that it would be a revolutionary thing.

  • ad a small gas engine to genearate elektisity perhaps a lavnmover engine ? it shuld do the trick !

  • Solar Panel . . . unlimited Ski Lift.

  • what i must pay for it? exportable to schweden?

  • put two 300 Lbs men into this chopper & see if it will take off ! :) no seriously , this is the future , electric planes & choppers.

  • New batteries in the next 3 years will last 10 time longer and charge in a 10th of the time...

  • what if batteries run out in mid air?

  • @myosat

    Is that a joke?

    Obviously during the development, better batteries would be used. e.g. nano-type batteries.

  • @myosat ...you land!

  • @myosat just the same as when gasoline runs out in ordinary chopper , you crash.

  • I wonder if it is like my Cell battery. Hey I have 2 bars left, then a minute later it is bleeping then shuts down.

  • hmmm i have time to take off and land at the same spot. and then recharge for 8 hours , lol I think its great someone made one at a huge cost to test the technology its just not there yet. it would have been better in an ultra lite glide or gyro plane.

  • He can't be 25....wow! That's awesome!

  • "Sikorsky Innovation ... are excited about..." hahaha as if the guy spent the night before memorizing this...

  • @zaneacademy Yes, Amazing isn't he?

    These are the clowns that are taking all the jobs, because they have an uncle or a dad or a brother or someone that worked at such & such company. They got the job based solely on WHO they know, NOT what they know or their amount of competence. Meanwhile, people with Master's Degrees, and a ton of experience, that aren't fortunate enough to be as well connected, couldn't pay someone for an interview.

    Crony Capitalism at it Finest!

  • CrAp !

  • But can it blend?

  • ESTE RESOLVE O PROBLEMAS DO TRANSITO.

  • OMG I LIVE THERE

  • It looks more like a computer box with an LCD monitor and an agricultural kit.

  • They need to combine this with a Perendev permanent magnet generator, thus the electric helicopter would have infinite flight time. Another solution would be to carry compressed hydrogen gas and a small internal combustion engine to spin a generator to feed the heli electric juice. I wonder also if they connected a transmission to efficiently use the torque the e-motor is spinning.

  • Plus, EVERYBODY knows gyrocopters are by FAR more efficient than helicopters, so why don't they just tilt the main rotor back a bit and put a second rotor driving forward connected to the same motor, that a clutch can be used to disengage the main rotor to fly it strictly as a gyrocopter, or engage the main rotor for hovering, vertical take off and solid control in high winds. Come to think of it, this heli design is pure crap. The VERTICOPTER is the future. Gravity plane + verticopter is best.

  • Leave it to some mega corporate educated fools to design an electric helicopter that looks like every other helicopter ever made AND fly's for 15 minutes. This gets back to what I've been saying for years, that the corporate educational establishment is training you college grads to memorize, NOT to think with any great depth, but to just do pretty much what all the corporate educated goons before you did.

  • Does it beep and then turn off when the battery is low ?

  • Quero ver se voa mais que meu Trex 700E

  • Is he reading the manual in mentally?

    It´s like a speech in school. lol!

    btw, nice chooper!!

  • Well by replacing the tail rotor with an electric one, would have some problems if the tail rotor motor were to fail. If you sudently lost all power and had to enter autorotation, you would want to have tail rotor authority, driven by the main rotor. So that idea don't sound so good to me. Good concept. The only thing to keep it straight would be the verticle tail stabilizer and would only be good at speed.

  • 15 minute flight duration is similar to my RC helicopter that gets about that much flight time so that makes that heli a TOY category....

    just kiddin !

    this is actually a stepping stone for us humans to start inventing anti-gravity generators now thats NOT a Toy !

  • Must weigh a ton with those 2 battery packs... he says "It's at nearly gross weight before the pilot steps in"... does it actually fly then with all that weight... thats the problem with battery powered vehicles they're so heavy that most of the batterys power is sapped lugging all that weight around... and thats why they will never take the place of conventional fossil fueled vehicles until they can reduce the ridiculous weight disadvantage... yet?!

  • ok putting an electric tail motor on a heli = BAD. coming from an rc background you CANNNOTTT autorotate them!!!!! that means instant crash just about anytime there is a failure!

  • now make it R/C and you got your self a very very big and expensive toy :D

    i love helis ^_^

  • Also if anyone has ever flown an RC heli thats battery powered. You know that power out is a sudden thing and there is not auto rotation. Of course I don't want to compare the two too much.

  • Hmm 1100 pounds of batteries. I don't like that at all. Especially for a 15 minute flight. Where am I going to go in 15 minutes? I will take a 400 pound engine and 700 pounds of fuel for a 2 hour flight.

  • @DobermansRock technology will change all that,that is the point of these conversion,if we can do it and make it work now,think of what they will be able to do in 10 years.Electric is the future,there's no stopping it now.combustion engine have another 40 years years before they start to fade away.thats my good guess.

  • @inagod I cannot see electric ever replacing turboshaft or jet engines. Fuel fed engines in the long run are lighter and run longer. The problem for electric is the batteries(their weight) and the short time they last. The only way electric works is in the applications we have today in the Navy. Nuclear Subs and Aircraft Carriers. I do like the performance of the electric motor. The Carrier is so fast it is classfied. It is able to do what it can because of it's on board nuclear reactor.

  • Surprised thathe tail rotor is not electric.

    Doubthat it will ever be practicle.

  • when they take out the gearboxes,main and tail box, get rid off all that weight and mount electric motor directly on each rotor this might actually work :) then it just has to come remote control and you have a full size RC

  • I have no real comment until I see it fly... but, one for Jonathan, the guy on camera giving the presentation: "Stare at the camera instead of the cue cards".

  • Calm down people! This is a technology demonstrator. It's just a start, and as technology improves, so will flight times. There are already electric powered airplanes that can stay in the air for 2 hours or even more.

  • having lowbat in the air is a big trouble, :D

  • This is very cool! Tres cool infect!

  • so hows the auto rotation performance when you run out of batter capacity? lol been there many times with my rc helis.

  • we already have rc helicopters

  • 15min duration? what a joke

  • the name is somewhat ironic.

  • how do you think we fly a mission to mars there no refueling station

    hum and no oxygen for the engines hum..they are being recharged in the air or space as they travel long ranges...

  • 15 min not to long ...why not use a alternator as the rotor spin's to recharge the batteries in flight and that will give 5 -8 hrs flying with no refueling

    its not that complicated ...we just cant seem to get away from fuel

  • needs a big extension cord?

  • holy shit that guy needs to poop or somthing

  • @dopeybear420 you just made me laugh my ass off!

  • All you bone heads talk about 15 minutes of flight time. This was the first one built dummies. Besides even though the technology is new this helicopter would reduce my trip to work from 45 minutes to about 15. And I wouldn't pass a single car.

    Also electric motors are far less likely to break down in mid flight. Give this technology three more years and then you might get it.

  • @maryjane123rd

    \so where is this mini heli going to get permission to land? on roof of work mates cars! Probably need personal portable helipad setup in advance..

  • has it ever flown??

  • Try looking for an alternate source of fuel!!! Its hard to believe, With Todays Technology All you can achieve is 15min of fly time.. That is usless and a gross waste of money. I Do not see a demo avaliable either. Come on... Battery Power to Assist in cars an scooters has shown to be more costly than useful. Wishful thinking.. but battery power for flight is a bad choice.

  • 15 min of flight time.... What a joke!

  • Comment removed

  • fly it on video.

  • custom is good !!!!! ^^

  • 15 minutes! That's enough to take off and enter the landing pattern.

  • As we can now see with RC Model Heli's real power and resonable flight times are available.

    The unit here is an internal combustion craft that has been modified, that is never ideal, especially for a helicopter where weight is so critical, I estimate that this craft could fly 45min+ now if it was weight reduced. Best of all build it from scratch.

  • how much is it

  • again i ask, if your going to show something off, at least demo it. sure your speech is good, but the star of the show is the craft, so start it up, ok?

  • Electric cars are not green , were does the power come from that charges the batteries most likely a power station burning coal. Same apply's whit Electric Helicopters.

  • @Pyware50 Hell of a lot easier to control emissions from a smaller number of point sources then it a distributed source like say all the cars in america. Not to mention that the energy could one day be provide by renewable's or nuclear energy which is much less emissions intensive. The main problem is energy storage; batteries are the curse of us all.

  • @Pyware50 nuclear power plant making electricity

  • So many armchair aerospace engineers!

  • @m1aws WTF did you expect ........ your on youtube bro. This is not a forum for informed debate and a rational exchange of ideas.

    THIS IS INTERNET SPARTA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Where 12 year olds come to blow off irritation after being grounded.

    You get the idea.

  • if they would made some of the body out of carbon fiber it would reduce the weight and increase the flying time...

  • 15 minutes sure beats only being able to fly to the extent of the extension cord lol

  • @jetplaneflyer, okay smarty pants explain the theory behind the high bypass fan system. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this system uses the speed of the engine to create the mass of its thrust, does it not?

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  • Comment removed

  • It's cute. I hope they build it in Coatesville :-)

  • Okay now put that motor into the combustion section of a turbine engine; removing the combustion section, as I been talking about for too many years; ever since 1991 when I was in junior high. Some motors have higher RPM range than some gas turbines.

  • @Scorpion85629,

    Why would you do that?. An electric motor already generates mechanical torque so why not use it directly rather than take huge losses in efficiency and much added weight that would be implicit with all the fans, turbines and gearboxes of a turbo system?

  • @jetplaneflyer, sorry I wasn't very clear on my comment. Think outside of the box for a minute. What is the max RPM or a typical turbine engine? What would be the thrust if converting a jet fighter engine to full electric. Most of the engines have a forward mounted generator so supplying the needed power for the battery pack should enable non-stop flight, power loss and efficiency shouldn't be an issue.

  • @Scorpion85629

    You cant replace a combustion section with an electric drive.. Combustion expands the inlet gas (air) to tens or hundreds of times it's original volume due to chemical reaction processes involved in combustion, it's this expansion that creates thrust. There is nothing you can do with an electric drive that would do that. even if you spun a jet turbine at full speed it would make hardly any thrust without combustion to expand the gas.

  • now it needs graphene based super capacitors 

  • i want this one , plz

  • I can design you a electric helicopter for $2,500.00 USD. Includes shipping and repairs. Runs about 450 ' at 15 to 30 minutes.

  • He was really weird and at the end it looked like he noobed a telepromter job.

    Really cool helicopter - I would love to see a video of it flying

  • Just awesome - being a energy pioneer is always expensive and it seems rarely generates direct profits, but is an environmentally responsible way to do business and shows clear industry leadership - keep it up guys - thanks!

  • The problem is energy density.. When super capacitors get better, electric heli's might make more sense.

  • and the price tag??

  • use tesla batteries

  • Uninspiring dialogue is uninspiring.

  • was the X-2 trialled in australia at all?

  • how about a demonstration?

  • Know if they can figure out , how to use the electro static energy generated from the blades to recharge the capbatts, and trim some of the weight from the drive train this might be a fun project.

  • You're wright, but the key issue for helicopter is an engine. I think that R&D from Sikorsky Company should focus on overunity electric engines - that's probably the best solution for power retention. Good Luck !

  • Coax helicopters in Australia test the same system 5 years ago! no future in it.

  • Also interesting is the use of Lithium Ion cells. One of my first early RC helicopter Kit designs back in 1999 made use of the FIRST Tadiran Lithium Ion cells for RC helicopter use, then of course came Lithium Polymer , rechargeables and now high discharge Li-Pols, which in my opinion, is currently the way to go. A new technology in even lighter, safer and even higher discharge cells will some day, in the perhaps near future, obsolete the gas engines used in commercial aircraft.

  • @MarioIArguello You won't see fuel propulsion jet engines ever being replaced by electrical engines, this includes commercial aircraft such as jetliners. However you may be right about replacing the combustion piston engine found in most ground vehicles, boats and small air vehicles (e.g. helicopters).

    Unfortunately though, the propulsion from a jet engine is partially directly due to the combustion and force of burning/expanding gases through the engine. H2O2 will replace jet engines

  • Most of my original MIA Micro-FLIGHT helicopter designs and upgrades for RC helicopters still promote the motorized tail rotor direct drive, for the simplicitry and efficiency it provides WHEN DONE PROPERLY. This has made perfect sense to me since my first RC helicopter electric design back n the late 80s. It is very interesting to see electric propulsion being adopted in real helicopters. Check out my Channel and web site MIA Micro-FLIGHT Blog and Museum for some more interesting stuff.

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  • @DomenicoScarlatti Understable first impression. It's a concept helicopter. The fact that it even gets off the ground, let alone can stay there for 15min is rather impressive. Helicopters, unlike fixed-wing aircraft, are rather hungry in terms of power-to-weight requirements. If the reverse were true, we'd all buy airline tickets on big helicopters vs. jets and turbo-props ;)

  • Most Impressive. Even with 15min endurance, that's really pushing the power-to-weight ratio of electric aviation. Yuneec, with their impressive E-430, is going to have to make room in their spotlight for Sikorski, Sonex, and others. (Sorry, my designs only fly in PC simulators ;) )

  • Pretty cool. I didn't think they've come quite this far yet. Curious to know if anyone has tried doing an electric plane and how much of a duration it would have flying wise. I could kind of see something like this in a smaller scale for sailplanes.

  • @Jimfoxyboy Google "Yuneec". Sonex is also doing a bit of work. And Eric Lindbergh (grandson of THE Lindbergh) is also invovled in promoting electric aviation. No lead-belching overweight BP-end-product-guzzlers here ;)

  • The spokeman also looked like he was battery-powered.

  • looks like this guy practiced very hard on his monologue.

  • @green95gt LOL, sure does. Aviation and other engineering fields are full of very talented, often hella cool people who aren't necessarily on-camera personalities ;)

  • Lol, its like an oversized rc heli! But really I like how confident Sikorsky is with their new project and I think it is a great step in finding alternative power suppies for our aircraft.

  • Oh my gosh this is awesome, i want one for christmas!

  • This is exciting. I'm guessing that someone substantially thinner than the spokesperson would fly the aircraft.

  • @bagelboi66 Nahhh... he's not THAT big a boy. Smaller people obviously will enjoy better performance in any vehicle - be it motorcycle, car, fixed-or-rotary-wing aircraft, or steamship. (STEAMSHIP??? Yes.... just to a much smaller extent) ;)

  • Well done Sikorsky Innovations! I look forward to the mature products. Thanks for helping move us along. Lets kick our petroleum addiction one product or testbed at a time!

  • The weak spot of electric aircraft is not the motors so much as the battery system. Batteries have low energy density in comparison to hydrocarbon powered internal combustion engine; until that weakness is solved, battery powered manned aircraft will remain an experimental technology with a few niche uses. A more feasable approach (for now) may be to use an internal combustion engine to generate electricity for the onboard motors. Just a thought...

  • @All2Meme Agree, a hydrogen burning engine say, would be a better approach. They did not mention how long it takes to charge up that half ton battery.

  • @fireengineer Do you think a hydrogen burning turbine engine would work best in this situation, turning a large alternator to power the motors in the rotor drive system? I think it would make sense, as most successful electric drive vehicles have an onboard engine to generate their power (diesel-electric locomotives, for example). It might make for an interesting aircraft.

  • What really needs to happen is: invent a extremely efficient battery.

  • electric is the future

  • Very limited, so much technology needs to mature for this to be viable. Full points to Sikorsky for the concept model but in my opinion it will be a decade before we have the super high efficiency motors and chemical batteries to make this happen on a commercial level.

  • Nice..!!!