Zunum Aero

Zunum small aircraft concept

Zunum Aero (Mayan for hummingbird) is a Kirkland, Washington based aircraft manufacturer startup, backed by Boeing HorizonX and JetBlue Technology Ventures, working since 2013 on a hybrid electric family of 10-50-seat regional aircraft. It plans to fly a prototype in 2019-2020. Under the revamped FAR Part 23 rules with electric aircraft standards expected by 2018 and first type certification by 2020, a 19 seat design optimized for a 700 nmi (1,300 km) range, viable on a battery energy density of 300 watt hours per kilogram available in 2017, will begin in the early 2020s, increasing range to beyond 1,000 nmi (1,900 km) with in-service aircraft upgrade thanks to technology advances by 2030.^[1]

The architecture is a series hybrid, with ducted fans powered by batteries alone for short trips and a range-extending generator for 1 MW (1,300 hp) to 4–5 MW (5,400–6,700 hp) for a 50-seater : a gas turbine or diesel aircraft engine extender for cargo and short-range commuters. It targets 40-80% lower operating costs thanks to power grid electricity rather than aviation fuel, including replacing the battery packs twice a year with a 1,000-1,500 cycles rechargeable battery.^[1]

More frequencies from local airports can be provided by smaller aircraft for better 87–869 nmi; 160–1,610 km transportation: travel times for San Francisco-Los Angeles (300 nmi, 560 km) or Boston-Washington (350 nmi, 650 km) could be halved using secondary airports with only carry-on luggage not needing baggage conveyor belts and no airport security while all-weather access to small airports will be provided by the Air Traffic Organization NextGen system, with turnarounds in 10 min for battery swaps or fast chargers.^[1]

A $800,000 research and development grant from Washington state’s Clean Energy Fund match funding raised from Boeing and JetBlue. As its workforce should grow from 10 in mid 2017 to 20-25 by year-end, Zunum then expects to run a copper bird with Commercial off-the-shelf motors and fly an existing twin-turboprop testbed in 2018, modified in stages to demonstrate the propulsion system with custom lightweight motors for unducted propellers initially then ducted fans, as it focuses to produce an electric powertrain for an airframer. Extending natural laminar flow to reduce drag was preferred to boundary-layer ingestion and wingtip propulsors as their benefits weren't sufficient for small aircraft or they introduced issues. The range extender will be an off-the-shelf turbine before future improvements like an inflight shutdown/quick restart, it will be used at first to met FAA reserves, then replaceable with a third battery pack for a 45 min reserve.^[2]

References

External Links

• Official website