Solair I and Solair II are two German-designed electric aircraft. Solair I (7344503418)

Solair 1

The human piloted Solair I was developed from 1980 by Günther Rochelt - developer of the

Musculair Musculair 1 and Musculair 2 are two human-powered aircraft designed and built by German academic and engineer Günther Rochelt. Musculair 1 Rochelt designed Musculair 1 and completed building it in 1984, allowing his son Holger to win a Kremer ...

human-powered aircraft series - based on a Hans Farner canard design. It employed 2499 wing-mounted solar cells giving an output of between 1.8

kilowatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James W ...

(kW), equivalent to approximately 2.4

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...

(hp), and . The aircraft first flew at

Unterwössen Unterwössen is a municipality in the district of Traunstein in Bavaria, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

on 21 August 1983. It flew for 5 hours and 41 minutes, "mostly on solar energy and also thermals". The aircraft is now displayed at the German Museum in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. The newly developed piloted Solair II made its first flight in May 1998 and further test flights that summer but the propulsion system overheated too fast. Development stopped when Günther Rochelt suddenly died in September 1998.

Solair II

The Solair II project began in 1996, and aimed to develop a higher-powered successor aircraft. Modelled on

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

construction, the aircraft has a V-tail tail, and fin headed on each propeller for propulsion. The aircraft was manufactured in half-shells sandwich construction with honeycomb cores. With charged batteries, it required an input of 755 W power for the straight flight. *Wingspan: 20.00 m, wing area: 17.00 m², fuselage length: 6.12 m *Empty weight: 140 kg *Maximum take off weight (MTOW): 230 kg *Solar generator **Solar cells: 13,44 m² Mono-crystalline silicon cells **Max efficiency: 17.3% **Max power (radiation 500 W / m²): 1163 W *Drive **2 x permanent magnet DC motor with pusher propeller (1.46 m diameter) in the tail **Nominal voltage: 30 V each (motors in series connected) **Max power: 2 × 4500 W **Used 2 × 4 kW motors with 2-sheet folding propellers (2 m diameter) with pitch after a modification *Batteries **Battery type: 54 cells in series 2-4 of battery packs parallel, voltage: 65 V **Capacity: Max 4 × 5.2 AH 20.8 = Ah, storable energy: Max 1352 WH

References

Electric aircraft Canard aircraft High-wing aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Solar-powered aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1983 {{aircraft-stub

Solair 1

Solair II

See also

References