ICE Corporation to Develop Controller for WheelTug Aircraft Electric Drive System
02 May 2010
ICE Corporation, a designer and supplier of electronic controls for aviation, will design, develop and build the controllers for the aircraft on-ground electric drive system being developed by WheelTug plc.
The WheelTug hybrid-electric drive system uses high performance electric motors installed in the nosewheels of the aircraft, providing full mobility on the ground without the use of the aircraft engines or tugs for pushback and taxi operations. WheelTug enables aircraft to be driven without using their engines from the terminal gate to the runway, and from runway exit to the gate, upon landing.
The resulting improvements in efficiency, flexibility, fuel savings, reduced engine FOD (foreign object damage) and CO2 emissions yield projected savings of more than $500,000 per aircraft per year.
Under the agreement, ICE will design, certify, and build the controller that drives the electric motors and control the system for the first model being developed, which is for the Boeing 737NG aircraft.
The controller is the WheelTug system’s most complex component. It forms the nerve center of the WheelTug system, interfacing and interacting with both personnel and aircraft systems. While WheelTug has had prototype controllers operating in the lab for several years, this agreement will provide for a complete and certificatable system that is optimized for aerospace requirements.
Final specifications for the initial WheelTug 737NG model are expected to be available to potential airline customers within the coming months. Systems for other aircraft types will then be developed as rapidly as possible. In addition to ICE, WheelTug is working with Luxell Technology and Co-Operative Industries as partners for the cockpit interface and wire harness, respectively.
WheelTug is a majority-owned subsidiary of Chorus Motors plc.
Saving eight figures on fuel during the life of the plane ain't bad..
Posted by: kelly | 02 May 2010 at 06:25 AM
Whatever happened to Taxibot?
Posted by: ejj | 02 May 2010 at 07:00 AM
I think the wheel motor might not be the most complex, but it is the biggest challenge.
Landing gear must be strong but as light as possible, they must allow the wheel to spin up almost instantly without "incident" on hard landings - they are the archetypical application for low unsprung weight.
The wheel motor must be able to start the AC from a stop on an uphill taxiway and achieve ~ 40 mph.
But if their "projected" savings of more than $500,000 is even close (even for the "small" 737) it is clearly attractive.
Posted by: ToppaTom | 02 May 2010 at 08:10 AM
While there is no detail on where the savings are coming from, wouldn't it be a better idea to just electrify the tugs? They are already very heavy and I bet you could trade switching to lighter weight materials on teh tugs in exchange for batteries and motors and have a zero net weight increase. You lose the unsprung weight issue, the fact that you have to fly around with that extra weight on the plane as well as the complexity of flight testing new landing gear systems will take many years of safety testing.
This seems like something a company like Balqon could solve much cheaper and without any additional complications to the existing system
Posted by: jriskin.myopenid.com | 02 May 2010 at 02:06 PM
@jriskin
I think the tugs are currently used only for pushback from the gate. Taxi to and from landing on the runway is probably where the savings are.
Posted by: JMartin | 02 May 2010 at 03:14 PM
jriskin.myopenid.com brings up a good points --- what are the savings realistically when you're adding probably a ton (literally 2000 lbs or more) of new machinery, including heavy duty electric motors, hoses, valves, avionics, etc. to the overall weight of the plane? Nowhere does it say they've accounted for this weight & the fuel costs per year to fly around the extra weight. I can't see electric terminal-to-runway runway-to-terminal trips (engines will still be idling) offsetting, overall, fuel costs lugging around an extra 2000 lb.+ system in the air.
Posted by: ejj | 02 May 2010 at 04:09 PM
I believe the APU would be running, not the main engines.
Few or no batteries, hoses etc should be needed (because of the APU).
Still, the fuel savings vs the initial cost, maintenance and weight, must be demonstrated
Posted by: ToppaTom | 02 May 2010 at 09:56 PM
Two points.
1. I believe Virgin is already proposing to let the existing tugs move the aircraft all the way to the threshold.
2. I was part of a team who worked on this in the 1970s. The system would not be reliable on nosewheels as there is not enough weight on them to give traction under all conditions. This means two units on the main wheels. But the upside, they could be used to spin up the wheels before touch down, thus reducing tyre wear.
Posted by: PaulT | 02 May 2010 at 11:31 PM
@PaulT:
Even just wheel speed up motors for landing might be worthwhile. Switched reluctance motors are the lightest weight, highest speed motors that can be made. The motors could also be used for minimal braking and save a little on tyre wear. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 03 May 2010 at 01:46 AM
For wheel speed-up... couldnt wheels be designed to catch the air or have a blast of compressed air delivered at the right second do?
Tugs NEED to be diesel/hybrid electric ASAP. They can be used on every plane with NO modification. Weight is really not an issue. Light weight in-wheel motors will never match up.
Posted by: fred | 05 May 2010 at 05:54 PM
Paul is correct there is not a large enough normal force on the nose wheel to cause motive force in a lowered friction coefficient condition such as in rain as 90% of the normal force is on the main gear. The Wheeltug group missed this simple fact of the physics involved. So in rainy conditions the nose wheel will spin very fast and the aircraft will go nowhere fast.
Delos Aerospace has conducted in depth conceptual engineering since 2002 to implement a solution and is in discussions to license the technology.
Airbus made a formal announcement in flight global that they will be implementing our system within the A320. Here is the link to the press release.
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/03/25/324327/airbus-reveals-self-powered-landing-gear-braking-concept.html
Posted by: Steven Sullivan | 18 May 2010 at 08:02 AM