At Embry-Riddle’s Research Park, students (L-R): Kelsey Krupicka, Amanda de Souza, Gianna Schock, and Calvin Cai, are interning at VerdeGo Aero, a hybrid-electric aerospace powertrain firm, to refine a hybrid power plant for electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles. The students are also working on noise-mitigation technology.
Scientific Research for a Better World At Embry-Riddle’s Research Park, student researchers are shaping the
great promise for reducing carbon emissions, fossil
future of human mobility and advancing sustainable solutions to aviation. The future of aviation will be clean, quiet and more resilient. Listed here are a few examples of how Embry-Riddle is working toward that future: Quiet Flight Embry-Riddle Research Park tenant VerdeGo Aero, a hybrid-electric aerospace powertrain firm, has teamed up with the university to develop and commercialize patent-pending technology designed to mitigate electric aircraft noise. Under an exclusive option agreement, VerdeGo Aero will further develop the Embry-Riddle technology for commercialization. VerdeGo Aero’s goal is to help advance the rapidly emerging market for electric aircraft of all types. Although electric aircraft show
fuel use and operating costs, the propellers or rotors can be relatively noisy. “Traditionally,” company CEO
Eric Bartsch explained, “aircraft propellers must be optimized for either high efficiency or low noise, and there is a limited RPM/ torque operating range due to the limitations of piston and turbine engines. Electric motors now provide a much wider torque band enabling new operating modes.” The technology being commercialized by VerdeGo Aero would automatically adjust the pitch of rotating propeller blades, while simultaneously adjusting motor torque to maintain constant thrust, Bartsch said. In this way, it is possible to reduce noise or increase efficiency depending on the operating environment, while maintaining substantially constant thrust, altitude and airspeed.
22 | Social and Environmental Responsibility
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