Seattle-based startup for aerial mobility Jetoptera tested its innovative bladeless VTOL aircraft concept to demonstrate its ability to reach speeds of 0.8 Mach or 614 mph. The data was reported through the completed Small Business Innovation Research contract, awarded by the United States Air Force.
Visitors sit inside the Bell Nexus concept vehicle at the Uber Elevate Summit June 12, 2019 in Washington, DC, one of the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicles or flying cars that will be part of Ubers fleet for aerial ride sharing. - Uber on June 11 selected Melbourne, Australia, as the first non-US city for its aerial ridesharing service that is expected to launch in 2023, as it unveiled new partners for the ambitious initiative. Melbourne was named the third official pilot city for Uber Air, joining Dallas and Los Angeles. Test flights are to start in 2020 with commercial operations planned for 2023. The news came at the Uber Elevate Summit in Washington, where the California-based ride-hailing giant offered new details on its vision for flying taxis as a way to ease traffic congestion and improve urban mobility. EVA HAMBACH/AFP via Getty Images
(Photo : EVA HAMBACH/AFP via Getty Images) Visitors sit inside the Bell Nexus concept vehicle at the Uber Elevate Summit June 12, 2019 in Washington, DC, one of the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicles or flying cars that will be part of Ubers fleet for aerial ride sharing. - Uber on June 11 selected Melbourne, Australia, as the first non-US city for its aerial ridesharing service that is expected to launch in 2023, as it unveiled new partners for the ambitious initiative.
VTOL Aircraft Concept
Jetoptera just concluded its fourth Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract. As per the company's released statement, they experimented with and evaluated its revolutionary concept of bladeless aircraft that vertically takes off and landing (VTOL) and at the same time, configuration with a High-Speed VTOL.
The propulsion introduced several fundamental advantages over the legacy of VTOL systems. This emits lower and atonal noise, and milds the temperature as it does not have rotors and propellers.
The aircraft remains very reliable despite having low-maintenance turbo compressors that are easy to adapt from existing and current turbines.
An Upper Surface Blown Wing (USB) was designed by Jetoptera as they equipped testing for a powered and high lift to integrate the company's Fluidic Propulsive System (FPS).
Interesting Engineering reported that the aircraft system will combine gas or electric turbine and fluidic thrust augmentation across the airframe.
The company added, "It can be implemented in various geometric shapes, can be embedded with the airframe, and has no propellers or rotating parts. The system is used in all phases of flight."
Results for Testing
The experiment produced data that informed the company of several concepts critical to the delivery of the conceptual design. The SBIR contract allowed the company to design and build a test for an upper surface blown wing.
As per New Atlas, Jetoptera used a high-lift flap system to deliver the maximum amount of lift. This was possible as the company worked with Aerospace Heavyweight Northrop Grumman and Scaled Composites as its subsidiary.
To reach the best speeds that an aircraft can offer, the company partnered with Scaled Composites to design the high lift system and test the article. They are also responsible for the conceptual design of the aircraft and static testing.
The test demonstrated lift coefficients that exceed 8.0 Mach, which is 40% improved, with lower noise emission and vibrations. This will be faster than any tiltrotor can manage and the Boeing Dreamliner.
A sub-scale model of its conceptual design was also built by Jetoptera for the AFWERX HSVTOL program. The company is one out of eleven companies that aims to design a next-generation VTOL military aircraft that offers much higher performance than anything on the market.
