Sugar Volt By Boeing - A Flight Of The Future!

As a response to NASA's problem concerning more greener commercial aviation, Boeing had this prototype to offer- #-Link-Snipped-#. What better way to save jet fuel than turning off the gas engines, eh? This 'better way' could be achieved only in the presence of an alternative power source, similar to the battery packs and electric motors used in the #-Link-Snipped-# hybrid propulsion arrangement. The 737-size, 3,500-nautical-mile-range Volt would extract energy from the jet fuel as well as the batteries in the course of takeoff, but once it reaches the trip altitude, pilots shall be able to simply shift to an all-electric mode. Boeing engineers while rethinking the propulsion, simultaneously reworked the wing design too.

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Marty Bradley, Boeing’s principal investigator on the project, stated that by developing a thinner wing and a greater span, more lift could be produced with less drag. The huge wings would fold up to aid the pilots in accessing the standard boarding gates. In conjugation, the high-lift wings, the hybrid powertrain and the efficient open-rotor engines shall cause the SUGAR Volt to work 55 percent more efficiently as compared to an average aircraft. The plane would puke out carbon dioxide less by a 60 percent and nitrous oxide less by an 80 percent. Moreover, the additional boost the hybrid system renders at takeoff would facilitate pilots to employ runways as small as 4,000 feet. (For a majority of planes, landing demands less space than takeoff.) A 737 demands at least 5,000 feet for takeoff, which implies that the SUGAR Volt could haul cross-country flights even to the modest airports.

Do check out the other designs that'll shape the future of aviation- #-Link-Snipped-# and the #-Link-Snipped-#, both by Lockheed Martin.