BENEFITS OF CRPS ELECTRIC PROPULSION
(As a replacement for a single piston engine and a variable pitch propeller).
- Twin motors - therefore aircraft is reclassified as twin “engine” with all the safety and air space benefits
- Two fixed pitch propellers – very simple, cheap to buy, robust and maintenance free (single variable pitch on piston engine is expensive, complex and maintenance intensive)
- Electric propulsion is extremely simple (only two moving parts compared to piston engine with 400 – 500 moving parts)
- Hugely improved performance. No propeller torque, better acceleration, higher speed, reversible thrust, huge range of power settings (a contra rotating fixed pitch propeller pair is more efficient than a single variable pitch propeller with the same horse power)
- 30% smaller overall propeller diameter – giving better ground clearance and shorter undercarriage
- Silent operation and no exhaust
- Very low maintenance costs (almost no maintenance, 10,000hrs between “engine” overhauls)
- Cheap to run, cost of consumables, (electric recharge) is about 7% cost of piston engine fuel and oil and other consumables mile for mile
- Simple “engine” controls - just two motor/propeller speed controls (piston aircraft have mixture, manifold pressure and rpm plus pitch control lever)
- No need to adjust motor controls with increase in pressure altitude or in icing conditions
- Simple bolt-on replacement for a piston engine installation – CRPS uses same firewall bolt holes as piston engine frame
- Twin “engine” CRPS system is 35% the weight of equivalent piston engine installation
- Does not require “twin rating” endorsement on pilot licence as the system is coaxial with no asymmetrical flight characteristics on "engine" failure
- The small size of the propulsion system has a huge effect on the shape/profile of the aircraft nose improving the aerodynamics. (Ie the effect you see on the FURIO pictures before and after). – this leads to all sorts of benefits – significant reduction in drag, better forward visibility for the pilot, increase in top speed, and better fuel economy
The present downside of pure electric flight is the 20 times greater energy provided by a similar weight of hydrocarbon fuel – however, huge resources are being ploughed into battery technology world-wide and it can be expected the that this energy density gap will rapidly close.