Cryogenic applications for visionary aircraft concepts
December 18, 2015
The ambitious long-term environmental targets set by the European Commission (2011) and the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE) require airframers and their suppliers to improve the integration between an aircraft’s propulsion system and the airframe… In particular, concepts such as the distribution of the thrust generation along an airframe’s main components and …
A human factors study on helicopter pilot performance
November 24, 2015
With very few exceptions, going to the office is mostly a dull experience acceleration wise. That is until one day when instead of taking the usual bus to work you get on a plane to Aberdeen, and instead of sitting on the usual three-degrees-of-freedom office chair you find yourself in a six-degrees-of-freedom full Airbus Helicopters …
INNOVATE and AVIO AERO: Bringing Industry and Academia Together
October 21, 2015
INNOVATE is a University of Nottingham European-funded doctoral training program that offers a researcher the opportunity to study for a PhD as well as spending a minimum period of six months in a company. Here INNOVATE Early Stage Researcher (ESR), Sara Roggia, talks about her role as part of the INNOVATE project and her secondment …
Can we “3D-Print” an Electric Motor?
August 10, 2015
The well-established success of the Rapid Prototyping technologies derives from the possibility of creating parts with almost any shape at no added costs. However, in order for a part to be functional (i.e., with good mechanical properties), high density and tailored material properties are desired. In the past few years, Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies such …
Levitation spell (magnetic levitation technology)
June 23, 2015
Since the beginning of time humans have dreamed of possessing great magical powers. The power of casting fire, strong winds and many other traits which are supposedly possessed by divinities, heroes and magicians of the saintly days of yore. One of them is the art of making objects float in the air. In the Necronomicon of …
Feedback control of unsteady flows: using plasma to improve aircraft aerodynamics
May 14, 2015
Flow control is a fast growing multidisciplinary science aimed at altering a natural flow state into a more desired state, which could be chosen depending on control objectives (e.g. manipulation of flow separation and flow reattachment, drag reduction, noise suppression, etc.). It incorporates essential and non-trivial elements of fluid dynamics, numerical methods and control theory and this is …
Where, When and How can a UAV be used? (Part 1)
April 24, 2015
Are you a big fan of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV/‘Drones’)? Have you received one as a Christmas or birthday gift? Awesome! But be careful where you decide to fly your new “toy”, as each country has its own regulations for the use of these new and amazing devices. In this article we will explore the …
Future commercial airplanes: what to expect
March 10, 2015
In the last posts, we have discussed the path aircraft industry is following, and in this one, we are presenting some projects that apply the concepts before presented. A couple of months ago, members of the INNOVATE research team had the possibility to attend the IMechE Disruptive Green Propulsion Technologies Conference and more recently the …
What will future aircraft look like?
February 23, 2015
Nowadays travelling by plane has become a common habit. We can reach different continents in a few hours and with an ever increasing level of comfort. That’s even more impressive if one considers that the first flight took place just a little more than a century ago. Since then progress has been made in leaps …
Further enhancement of aircraft performance: still a utopia?
January 26, 2015
The arrival of boundary layer control technologies is closer and closer! The brisk pace with which our climate is changing, and the increased awareness of the limitation of natural fossil fuels are making nations and supra-national organisations take measures to attempt to slow down the actual trend of global warming – the disastrous consequences of …
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