CycloTech has shown a prototype of the future airplane on wing engines (video)
After 15 years of development and testing, the Austrian company CycloTech has finally unveiled its first concept aircraft. The CruiseUp model is a personal two-seater electric airplane for long-distance flights with a unique CycloRotor engine, known in shipbuilding as a Voight-Schneider engine.
The ship’s propeller was invented in 1926 by Austrian Ernest Schneider, and soon afterwards Voith built the first experimental ship using the circular motion of moving blades. This design provides water transport with excellent maneuvering qualities. The same principle is used by Schneider’s compatriots at CycloTech.
The walls of the cylindrical mover consist of blades that change their angle as the drum rotates. This design makes it possible to rotate the cylinders at a more or less constant speed, and to direct thrust almost continuously at any angle to climb up, fly forward or backward, or even descend sharply.
The disadvantages of this design are faster wear of the mechanism compared to propellers and a larger weight, writes New Atlas. Another disadvantage is that the blades create thrust only from time to time, but aerodynamic drag is constant.
At the moment, it does not seem obvious that wing propulsion is the best alternative to conventional propellers for electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles due to the significant energy consumption. But if batteries ever become much more capacious, CycloRotor’s maneuverability could be a decisive factor: it will be able to move more smoothly and steadily simply because it will be able to take corrective action to wind gusts more quickly.
Anyway, CycloTech showed its first finished prototype. It looks like a high-heeled shoe, about the size of a car, but it can accommodate only two people, plus there is some space for luggage. It has six motors, four of which are clearly visible in the corners, and two more are built in the front and rear of the cab and rotate in the longitudinal axis. They help you go downhill, as well as turn around and move sideways.
In the air, the device behaves like a multicopter – the lack of wings requires constant rotation of the blades. So you need big batteries. At a top speed of 150 km/h, the range is only 100 km.
However, the company is not in a hurry to launch mass production and is ready to wait until 2035, when other air taxis and passenger drones will have taken off and laid the foundation for a new type of air transportation. By that time, more efficient batteries will be available.
