New kind of aircraft: How soon until Batman gets one?
By
Acemace,
Posted on: 2011-06-26 06:43 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
No way can that thing work lol.
He already has something similar. 
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Can lift up to 70 kg? Seems that is more useful as a hoverdrone than transporting Batman around.
The first step in being sane is to admit that you are insane.
This wins the prize for ugliest flying vehicle ever, and possibly the one for ugliest vehicle, period, ever.
Yeah, it's probably only a matter of time before Batman gets one, "Because my dark quest for justice requires me to drive something ugly."
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Four centrifugal fans driven by a common combustion engine using computer controlled vanes to vector the thrust.
This is nothing more than marketing conning science/tech writers into thinking this is somehow revolutionary.
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Originally Posted by starphoenix
Can lift up to 70 kg? Seems that is more useful as a hoverdrone than transporting Batman around.
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I'm sure he can find a use for a hoverdrone. He's the ultimate organized pack rat, after all.
I'm sure the RL vehicle will be used for small things initially, remote controlled aerial photography for example.
Batman's ride is already cooler.
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70kg for the 5ft-long model currently being tested. The article says that the larger you make it, the more efficient it is at lifting weight.|
Originally Posted by starphoenix
Can lift up to 70 kg? Seems that is more useful as a hoverdrone than transporting Batman around.
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Originally Posted by Olantern
This wins the prize for ugliest flying vehicle ever, and possibly the one for ugliest vehicle, period, ever.
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http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
It could be another drone, 70Kg is plenty of weight for carrying cameras and sensors.
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As with any new "flying gizmo" this thing will only be adopted as a serious device if it can balance all the engineering factors of fuel consumption, carrying capacity, cost to operate and so on. If it offers some advantage in some niche scenario that can't be filled by any other current vehicle then it might have a chance. Otherwise it'll just be curious flying footnote that might -only- be used by Batman. 
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Not sure if Batman's got one. But I think Nick Fury, UNIT and SPECTRUM might be ordering it in family-size... for floating platforms 
Is it time for the dance of joy yet?
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"The article says that the larger you make it, the more efficient it is at lifting weight." |
Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper
70kg for the 5ft-long model currently being tested. The article says that the larger you make it, the more efficient it is at lifting weight.
Those pictures are an engine with landing struts, not a vehicle. |
Hmm. that goes against everything I ever learned in elementary Mechanical Engineering, but I never earned the full degree, so I could be wrong. If it's strictly true, (which I seriously doubt), you could make it arbitrarily big, and increase the efficiency to nearly 100%. So that makes no sense to me.
It may be the case that it increases up to a certain point very close to the starting point, but I doubt even that.
Also, 'contrarotating cylindrical turbines' seems like a fancy way of saying ducted fans.
I find these two passages interesting:
"The D-Dalus is also so simple mechanically that it needs little maintenance and requires no more maintenance expertise than an auto mechanic. "
and
"The forces on the blade pivots are understandably huge, and in initial testing it was found that all available bearings failed, so inventor Meinhard Schwaiger, who already has more than 150 patents to his name, knuckled down and invented (and patented) his own, near-frictionless swivel-bearing to cope with the stresses."
Sounds like these would be at serious odds to each other.
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The engine mounted on the bottom does not make me confident that passengers will be able to ride atop it.
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I'll give it "slightly different," but it's mostly in the way the blades are attached. (IE, instead of spinning from one end, they're inside a cylinder.) I can't think of another right offhand that has that arrangement... I'm fairly certain I've seen it in another application, though. Just can't think of what it is.
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Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Four centrifugal fans driven by a common combustion engine using computer controlled vanes to vector the thrust.
This is nothing more than marketing conning science/tech writers into thinking this is somehow revolutionary. |
Everyone knows Batman has two perfected versions of every prototype in the works.
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I've seen that plane design before. Didn't Joker use something that looked similar (maybe not as big) in Batman: The Animated Series?
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Originally Posted by Torroes_Prime
Please lets see what Bats does with something like this!
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Always wonder where Zeon got the idea for the Gaw.
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Originally Posted by Torroes_Prime
Please lets see what Bats does with something like this!
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kind of reminds me of those old 'build your own hovercraft out of vacuum cleaner parts' ads that used to show up in the back of magazines.
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I'm curious, did you guys actually read the article?
A five foot platform with a single 120 bhp KTM engine (A dirt bike engine.), was able to transport a 150lb payload. The way the turbofans are being used is the revolutionary aspect of this platform.
It's lift to weight ratio increases as it gets larger. It's current engine configuration is near silent. It's complexity gets simpler as it gets larger. It's operation is simpler than a rotary wing aircraft, and any other VTOL. It's able to land on moving vehicles. It's able to maintain hover next to vertical surfaces, or even in buildings. It has no vulnerable and dangerous rotary wings. It's speed is that of a jet aircraft. If this thing lives up to it's hype it will revolutionize aviation, at least military aviation.
As for the appearance of this thing, your just seeing a prototype of the platform, and what's under the cowling/hood is never very pretty (Unless of course your into that kind of thing.).
The article talks about the civilian applications, but if this thing pans out, military hellos will be gone, current VTOL aircraft will be gone, the carrier as we know it could be totally changed.
Hells depending on the lift to weight ratio and the ability to re-arrange the engine, Batman could put this platform into his car, and it could potentially make the tracked main battle tank obsolete.
Yeah, read it. I'll believe some of it once it's developed further, specifically in scaling and reliability, since a chunk of that sounds like heavy marketing. Still, even if it doesn't manage to scale much past where it *sounds* like it is now, sure, it could be very useful, and the military's always looking into new tech. And if it actually pulls off all of what it's promising as it scales... awesome.
I'll give you one big safety question while you're drinking the koolaid on this though. Existing rotorcraft can autorotate if the engine dies. What does this do besides fall? If they stay with remotes, it's not a big deal. If they get into manned applications, that's got to be addressed.
No wings, no rotors. an entirely new kind of aircraft.
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Courtesy of Gizmag:
"Austrian research company IAT21 has presented a new type of aircraft at the Paris Air Show which has the potential to become aviation's first disruptive technology since the jet engine.
The D-Dalus (a play on Daedalus from Greek mythology) is neither fixed wing or rotor craft and uses four, mechanically-linked, contra-rotating cylindrical turbines, each running at the same 2200 rpm, for its propulsion."
And, as you can see Bruce, it already comes in black.