{"id":14306,"date":"2021-11-22T00:02:17","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T07:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=14306"},"modified":"2021-11-22T00:02:17","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T07:02:17","slug":"thomas-senkel-electric-vertical-mobility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/thomas-senkel-electric-vertical-mobility\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Senkel and Electric Vertical Mobility"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Thomas Senkel was an early part of Volocopter, initially called e-Volo.\u00a0 His first efforts resulted in a spider-like creation perched on an exercise ball.\u00a0 It flew, seemed stable, and despite the placement of whirling propeller blades encircling Thomas during his test flights, proved not a hazardous as it looked.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"World&#039;s first manned flight with an electric multicopter\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/L75ESD9PBOw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Explanatory material accompanying the video declared, \u201cThe first manned flight with an electric vertical take-off and landing multicopter (eVTOL) was performed by Volocopter. The flight lasted 90 seconds, after which the pilot Thomas Senkel stated \u2018The flight characteristics are good natured. Without any steering input it would just hover there on the spot.\u2019 The flight, which is a Guinness World Record, was performed on October 21st in 2011.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although he helped develop the e-Volo which transfigured into Volocopter variants, Thomas apparently left the company to strike on his own patent-filled adventures.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>A Bird in the Canaries<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>He worked on a variety of electric bikes and trikes, with the most aerial being his Skyrider, seen here electrically reaching a mountain slope and then powering itself in parachute mode.\u00a0 He worked with Mark Beierele to develop a 20 kW motor for the eGull<\/p>\n<p>IN 2014 the blog reported,\u00a0&#8220;[Mark] Beierle and Senkel first made an 18 kW motor that Mark flew successfully at the Arlington Fly in in 2010, and for several months thereafter.\u00a0 After 35 hours of testing, however, the motor showed signs of overheating at maximum power.&#8221;\u00a0 The design was upgraded and demonstrated on the eGull as Oshkosh&#8217;s AirVenture that year.\u00a0 That motor produced 30 kW (40.2 hp.)<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Skyrider One - Very First Flight of the Electric Scooter &amp; Paraglider\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/C_CukSzts_Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4><strong>eMagic One<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>eMagic One premiered at European Rotors, where Senkel and co-founder Michael K\u00fcgelgen displayed it for the first time.\u00a0\u00a0Moritz Pfletschinger, A third founding member, developed the software for the battery management system, pilot assistance system and flight controller optimization.\u00a0 eMagic has an empty weight of 250 kg (562 pounds) and a maximum takeoff weight of 420 kg (882 pounds).\u00a0 Thomas claims it will cruise for a full hour at 144 kilometers per hour (90 mph) on a charge of its dual battery packs. He adds that is five times the range a pure multicopter design can manage on the same energy.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"eMagic One - An eVTOL that really works\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZbUv6icQsnI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Each of the eight lift motors spins at 1,800 rpm and produces 13 kW (15 in the company&#8217;s brochure) and 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of thrust.\u00a0 Each propulsion package <a href=\"https:\/\/newatlas.com\/aircraft\/emagic-evtol-volocopter\/\">weighs &#8220;just 5 kg (11 lb)<\/a><em> including motor, controller and prop,&#8221;<\/em> \u00a0according to New Atlas.\u00a0 A 40 kW tractor motor and propeller pull eMagic One along at 144 kilometers per hour (90 mph) for an hour with two battery packs.<\/p>\n<p>As we see in the second part of the video, Thomas created a skeletal rig that resembles the aluminum frame he made for the original VC-1 to test the vertical lift component of eMagic One.\u00a0 Already, he&#8217;s demonstrated the ability of the traction motor to nearly levitate the lightly loaded craft after a short takeoff run.\u00a0 With a wing loading of only 5.8 pounds per square foot (one pound per square foot lighter than a Piper J-3 Cub) eMagic One takes off in a short distance on its parallel wings &#8211; which are claimed to be highly stall resistant.\u00a0 That should aid in transitions from vertical flight to horizontal flight and back.<\/p>\n<p>eMagic&#8217;s canopy seems familiar, possibly because it looks just like those on the Silence Twister, a neat single-seat craft powered by Rotax or electric power.\u00a0 Brothers Matthias and Thomas Strieker head <a href=\"https:\/\/silence-aircraft.de\/\">Silence Aircraft GmbH<\/a> and\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/leichtbaumanufaktur.de\/projekte\/\">Leviora Leichtbaumanufaktur<\/a>, collaborate on multiple aircraft projects, including the Silence Twister Elektro.\u00a0 The companies are also working on piloted aerobatic drones, which we will cover soon, and even composite guitars.<\/p>\n<p>A plethora of projects will bear watching in the near future, including the eMagic One, which we hope to see in transition flight soon.<\/p>\n<div id=\"facebook_like\"><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fcafe.foundation%2Fblog%2Fthomas-senkel-electric-vertical-mobility%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=500&amp;action=like&amp;font=segoe+ui&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=80\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:500px; height:80px;\" allowTransparency=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thomas Senkel was an early part of Volocopter, initially called e-Volo.\u00a0 His first efforts resulted in a spider-like creation perched on an exercise ball.\u00a0 It flew, seemed stable, and despite the placement of whirling propeller blades encircling Thomas during his test flights, proved not a hazardous as it looked. Explanatory material accompanying the video declared, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6862,15,14],"tags":[5285,11183,11184,11185,6290,11186,3966,11187,11188,11189,11190,1772,2392],"class_list":["post-14306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-batteries","category-electric_powerplants","category-sustainable_ga","tag-e-volo-vc-1","tag-egull-electric-aircraft","tag-emagic-one","tag-european-rotors","tag-guinness-world-record","tag-leviora-leichtbaumanufaktur","tag-mark-beierele","tag-matthias-and-thomas-strieker","tag-michael-kugelgen","tag-moritz-pfletschinger","tag-silence-twister-elektro","tag-thomas-senkel","tag-volocopter"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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