A startup creates a 6-wing plane, but what's the point?

Basically, airliners have not undergone major transformations for several decades. Apart from the evolution from the propeller engine to the turbojet engine, the design of commercial aircraft has not been a model of inventiveness and innovation. A Californian start-up, called SE Aeronautics, seems determined to change this aspect of things. His 6-wing aircraft concept would reduce CO ₂ emissions by 80%.

This young company has developed a concept of an aircraft with three pairs of wings, called SE200, which will be 42.6 meters long and have a wingspan of 35.3 meters. The six wings of the aircraft will provide increased lift, which will allow it to reduce fuel consumption by 70% compared to that of a conventional aircraft of the same capacity. It will also emit up to 80% less CO ₂ and will be able to carry 264 passengers over a maximum distance of 16,900 kilometres. At full charge, the SE200 will reach a speed of 1100 km/h (Mach 0.90).

Shorter takeoff and landing

The fuel of the SE200 will no longer be stored in the wings, but in the rear of the fuselage. Thanks to this innovation, the engineers were able to design thinner and more aerodynamic wings. The aircraft will thus be able to take off and land on shorter runways, giving it access to many local airports.

Another innovation of the SE200 is its monocoque fuselage. Instead of being the result of a complex assembly of metal elements, it will be made of composite material, which, with an estimated lifespan of 50 years, will offer both increased efficiency and safety. This unique design should allow the SE200 to be assembled twice as fast as a conventional aircraft of the same type.

The engines will be located at the rear of the cabin instead of being fixed under the wings, which should lower the risk to birds during takeoffs and landings. “But the icing on the cake is our ability to reduce fuel consumption by 70%,” explains Tyler Mathews, CEO of SE Aeronautics. “We are going to revolutionize the aviation industry”.

The aeronautics sector is waking up

Faced with the pressing need to reduce its carbon impact, the aeronautics sector has presented numerous fuel-efficient aircraft concepts over the past 12 months, highlighting for each of them record efficiency and sobriety.

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A scale model of one of these concepts, KLM's 'Flying-V', a futuristic and fuel-efficient aircraft, successfully completed its maiden flight on September 2, 2020. It was a scale model weighing 22 .5 kg and measuring 3 meters wingspan.

The concept, developed by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and the University of Delft (TU Delft), made a successful first flight in real conditions, after numerous tests in the wind tunnel and then on the ground. Once built, the V-shaped aircraft will be able to carry 314 passengers in its wings. It would be 20% more fuel efficient than an Airbus A350, one of the long-haul aircraft whose consumption is currently the lower.

Using the data collected during the inaugural flight, the researchers plan to make a digital model of the aircraft, and integrate it into a flight simulator, in order to continue the research leading to the production of a prototype. full-scale.

The Flying-V would be 20% more fuel efficient than an Airbus A350

More efficient boosters for Airbus

At Safran Aero Boosters, a company based in Liège (Belgium) specializing in the manufacture of low-pressure compressors for Airbus or Boeing reactors, engineers are also working to develop the engines that will fly in 2035.

Thanks to a unique machine in the world and capable of making extremely precise and solid welds, the boosters of the future will turn 2.5 times faster. The compressor will be more compact, and will compress the air more efficiently. “The challenge of this process is positioning the small fins to the nearest hundredth of a millimetre,” explains François Lepot, CEO of Safran Aero Boosters. The extremely fine positioning of these is directly linked to the consumption of the motor. The latest generation welds should allow faster rotation, more precise positioning of these fins and less leakage. All of this should result in consumption gains of 15 to 20%.

Airplanes undergoing weight loss

Whatever its design or mode of propulsion, the aircraft of the future will be lighter and will incorporate more composite materials, if it wants to consume less fuel. They allow a reduction in weight, but also in the number of parts.

The search for minimum weight will be a constant in aeronautical innovation. To achieve zero-carbon, composites provide part of the solution, but the aircraft of tomorrow will have to meet other challenges, such as longer, more flexible wings, optimization of aerodynamics, etc.

It remains to be verified that all these technological developments will be sufficient to meet our greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. And that they will allow the airline sector to continue to grow. Otherwise, it may be necessary to consider reducing the sail area.