The world's first solar-powered airplane which is currently currently trying to make history by traveling around the world have taken off from Ohio, United States of America after it landed in Oklahoma last week. The Swiss-made aircraft which is named Solar Impulse 2 took off from Tulsa International Airport at about 5 a.m. this morning and its billed to land in Dayton International Airport in Ohio in about 10 hours from now.

Revealing the flight pattern, the website documenting the historic journey said on its website that the airplane took off from Arizona's Phoenix Goodyear Airport around 3 a.m. on the 13th of May and took it about 20 hours of flight to arrive at Tulsa.

The historic journey began in March 2015 when the plane took off from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, making stops in Oman, Myanmar, China and Japan respectively. From there, it entered the United States. It took the plane five days to journey from Japan to Hawaii, a coastal state in the US and from there, it flew to Silicon Valley in California.

However, reports have it that the crew was forced to stay in Oahu, Hawaii, for nine good months after it was discovered that the plane's battery system sustained heat damage while en-route from Japan. Officials handling the project say the problems faced during the voyage gave the two pilots, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borshberg, a chance to swap positions and command posts in the airplane and also engaged with local communities.

The airplane features 2 Solar Impulse wings, which according to report stretches much wider than those of a Boeing 747. It is also equipped with 17,000 solar cells that power the aircraft propellers and charge batteries. On its journey by night, it is revealed that the plane runs on conserved energy at night. The light speed is about 28 mph which can double if the rays from the sun are at their peaks.

The project started in 2002 with the main aim of pointing to the importance of renewable energy and the spirit of innovation. The solar-powered airplane project is estimated to cost more than $100 million.

Source: http://www.newslivecasts.com/2016/05/worlds-first-solar-powered-airplane.html

How many engine

Chazzyboy:
How many engine

It is powered by photovoltaic cells which is an electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity. So, literally, it has no engine.

Phagyrhe:
It is powered by photovoltaic cells which is an electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity. So, literally, it has no engine.

Ehmmm.... I don't think that's very correct.
I think the PV cells are supposed to generate Electrical energy, which is then converted into rotatory energy through electric motors. The engines would basically be the motors

destino24:


Ehmmm.... I don't think that's very correct.
I think the PV cells are supposed to generate Electrical energy, which is then converted into rotatory energy through electric motors. The engines would basically be the motors

thanks for that. Now I know more.

The current technology of solar cells is grossly inefficient for power generation. Indeed, that is why it is “allowed” and so “popular”, no joke intended.
The aircraft designers world over are very insincere and are hopefully fooling only themselves, in my opinion.

All electric vehicles, land and air need only have the ability to efficiently generate electricity while the are in motion to recharge batteries and simultaneously energise all electric engines. Solar cells at this point is not a viable method.
Such better systems of on-board power generation will necessitate a reduction in battery count, which is one of the most expensive and recurrent expenditure of all Electric vehicle usage, unless you insist on solar panels.

In land vehicles, magnets can be attached to the rim of the spinning wheel as the rotor. The stationary hub upon which the wheel is mounted can serve as the mounting for the stator windings of whatever ac/dc flavour is desired. The analogy to this is the out-runner brushless DC motor.

Electric aircraft such as the Airbus e-flite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_E-Fan can have a third electric engine which is wind or ram-air powered by the forward motion of the aircraft. Will it not suffice to generate surplus power to both charge smaller batteries (used only for taxing and a small part of the take-off run), as well as power the other engines once a minimum forward speed is reached? It is infinitely cheaper than solar cells.