This year Bauhaus Luftfahrt will have its own booth (Hall 2, Booth 403) at ILA Berlin – the most innovative trade event for the aerospace industry – from April 25th to 29th, 2018. The futurologists from Munich promise to have a lot of innovative food for thought and discussion in their luggage, which has the potential to fundamentally change the air transport system.
On 43 square metres, the think tank not only plans to present its own technological concepts and operational solutions (see below), but also wants to provide scientific answers to the central future questions of aviation, amongst others: What drives the mobility of tomorrow? What alternative energy options will be available for aviation in the long term? Which power and system technologies will further improve the efficiency of future aircraft concepts? Plus, what impact will information technologies have on future products and their development processes?
Bauhaus Luftfahrt is also breaking new ground with its booth concept: The focus is on a 60-centimetre diameter, touchable globe, on which visitors can interactively discover the entire world of aviation research.
Hybrid propulsion concept Composite Cycle Engine
The Composite Cycle Engine (CCE) concept incorporates piston engines into the core of an aircraft turbo engine. The piston engines increase thermal efficiency by using non-stationary isochoric-isobaric combustion, which enables higher peak pressures and temperatures within the core engine. In the current design, the piston engine is connected with the high-pressure spool and powers the axial-radial high-pressure compressor. The low-pressure system is similar to a conventional geared turbofan (GTF) architecture. This way, the outstanding power-to-weight ratio of low-pressure turbines can be fully utilised and an ultra-high bypass ratio is realised. Assuming an entry into service in 2050, fuel burn improvements up to 50 per cent relative to year 2000 turbofan technology (11 per cent relative to year 2050 advanced GTF technology, respectively) can be reached.
Intermodal transport concept CentAirStation and CityBird
CentAirStation and CityBird are Bauhaus Luftfahrt’s operational response to the European Commission’s ambitious 4 hours door-to-door goal (see Flightpath 2050 – Europe’s Vision for Aviation). The experts’ idea: Four-storey airport buildings with an average length of 640 metres and an average width of 90 metres will be built in the inner cities of the most important European and global cities – on one of the numerous existing “brown” spaces in the city. Passengers arrive by regional public transport, high-speed trains, or private transport. Lifts take them up to the first floor, where, in addition to extensive shopping and entertainment facilities, the facilities for security checks are also located. On the second floor, the CityBird is already waiting at one of 15 gate positions – a particularly small and silent, short take-off and landing regional aircraft. All-electrically, the CityBird is lifted onto the runway above it, where the flight begins into city centres up to 1000 kilometres apart. Only 15 minutes have passed since entering the airport building. With this system of inner-city airports, travel times from city to city can be significantly reduced and, moreover, the large airport hubs can be sustainably relieved for long-haul air traffic.
Presentation of the world’s first jet fuel from sunlight
Another highlight at the Bauhaus Luftfahrt booth is the presentation of the world’s first “solar” jet fuel on Thursday, April 26th, 2018 between 12:30 and 13:30 p.m. Within the framework of the SOLAR-JET research project funded by the European Union, synthetic “solar” kerosene has been produced for the first time. The entire production chain for renewable fuel from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide (CO2) has been successfully completed, which could have a major impact on the future of aviation. Several renowned scientific institutions from academic research to industrial research (ETH Zurich, German Aerospace Center, Shell Global Solutions, and ARTTIC) have developed an innovative process under the coordination of Bauhaus Luftfahrt, in which concentrated sunlight, water, and CO2 are converted into a so-called syngas. This is achieved by a redox reaction of metal oxides at high temperatures. The syngas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, is finally converted into kerosene using the already established Fischer-Tropsch process. In the follow-up project SUN-to-LIQUID (www.sun-to-liquid.eu), also funded by the European Union, this promising approach is currently being taken to the next stage of development by an international consortium. The original sample of the first solar jet fuel can be viewed at the Bauhaus Luftfahrt booth (Hall 2, Booth 403) during the above-mentioned period.
About Bauhaus Luftfahrt: https://www.bauhaus-luftfahrt.net/en/about-us/our-mission/
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