Solar Electric Powered Flight

Glenn Pew interviews Eric Raymond. Eric has been flying his battery launched solar assisted sailplane since the late '80s. He knows the road to progress doesn't come as bolts of lightning in time but through years of small steps. Glenn Pew caught up with Eric to learn about Sunseeker the Solar Impulse project and more...


http://www.glennpew.com

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• solar
• power
• electric
• flight
• avweb
• glenn
• pew
• eric
• raymond
• sunseeker
• bertrand
• impulse
• fuel
• cell
• airplane
• pilots
• flying

[DavidMJordan]

Excellent stuff. It's good to see people like you doing this sort of thing. It wouldn't work here in Britain but I'm working on a rain-powered plane.

[4evrplan]

This design is almost exactly like an idea I had, doodled up, and title "fuel-less cross-country aircraft". The one big difference was that I included a small in-crank generator so the pilot could supplement the power going to the motor bicycle style. Other than that, even the layout was the same. This always happens to me; I come up with an idea, only to find out later someone else built it 20 years ago. It's very exciting to see it works though. Kudos to this man.

[sewdavicious]

The future of Flight Bussing, cheaper, safer and faster. But if it became more of a demand for the speed people would be willing to pay way more money that the thing is worth, just for the sake of getting to a destination faster than conventional Air bussing.

[inPB]

WIce words of Eric Raymond about watterproff problems for big Amps!

THe same for e-bikes, and who knows how to manage it for example for Holland case.

[ThinkStage]

Very cool

To see more innovative videos like this or want to share your own ideas visit ThinkStageDOTcom

[v6greenfbird95]

@phifaces possible if use a very small diameter prop for this purpose but still I just cant imagine it generating enough power but with advancements in tech everything is possible

[phifaces]

@v6greenfbird95 maybe in highly thermic conditions, as you pitch down in air that's moving up you could maintain altitude, converting thermal energy into battery power - and possibly for sufficient enough time to fully recharge the battery, or at least provide sufficient power to supplement the solar power component.

[phifaces]

@kyuano i was thinking same thing - strong thermal go up higher, than descend with prop going into windmill mode for additional battery charging to supplement solar - then your charging time could also be reduced from 45 minutes to something less

[e178058]

why not put a thin layer of glass over the solar panels thats what i did for my houses solar panels , its really light and covers short outs

[SunGreenSolarEnergy]

Do solar flares and sunspots have any adverse effect on solar energy systems?

[lolprp111]

now he is making a sunseeker duo with better batteries and better lighter materials