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Wright Electric assembling 2.5MW WM2500 electric propulsion unit

Wright Electric, which last week announced a megawatt-class test cell for electric aircraft engines (earlier post), has begun assembling the 2.5 MW WM2500, which it will begin testing this summet.

WM2500 is intended to be the world’s most powerful and power-dense megawatt-class electric aircraft engine. Built with the support of the ARPA-E ASCEND program, this innovative Electric Propulsion Unit (EPU) is intended to set new standards for performance, efficiency, and reliability. WM2500 is designed for aerospace, defense, and marine applications that require megawatt class electric propulsion and/or turbogenerator output.

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Key differentiators of the WM2500:

  • Power: With up to 2.5 MW of power (3x higher than commercial-off-the-shelf), our propulsion unit delivers unrivaled performance, providing the energy needed to drive next-generation vehicles and vessels.

  • Power Density: Boasting specific power up to 16 kw/kg (3x higher than commercial-off-the-shelf), our propulsion unit maximizes energy output while minimizing size and weight, offering a compact solution for a wide range of applications.

  • High Efficiency: With an efficiency rating of 96%, our propulsion unit ensures efficient energy utilization, reducing stored energy requirements, environmental impact, and operating costs.

Advanced Features:

  • Flexible Power Options: The propulsion unit offers peak power of 2 MW at 800 VDC and 2.5 MW at 1200 VDC, providing versatility to meet diverse application requirements.

  • High-Speed Performance: With a rated speed of 7,500 rpm and 2,550 N·m of rated torque, the propulsion unit delivers high-speed performance.

  • Integrated Inverter Technology: WM2500 is equipped with eight integrated inverters, each rated to 250 kW of power.

  • Multiple Outputs: The EPU is designed to direct-drive a ducted fan, power a propellor through a single-stage gearbox, or perform as the genset of a 4 MW class turbogenerator.

Battery Development.

For the past three years, Wright Electric has been working on Aluminum-air battery technology. This class of batteries is energy dense and fire resistant. The company anticipates being able to provide engineering samples of Aluminum-air batteries to partners in 2025.

Comments

SJC

Electric commercial propeller driven aircraft can cruise at 500 miles an hour i
It's a matter of how powerful the electric motor is and how many motors.

mahonj

@SJC, and how much energy you can store in a plane, and how far you plan to go.

Note that power scales with the cube of the speed (when the main drag is wind resistance), so it pays to slow down a little.

Davemart

@SJC said:

' Electric commercial propeller driven aircraft can cruise at 500 miles an hour i
It's a matter of how powerful the electric motor is and how many motors.'

?? Now I am confused! I thought you argued elsewhere that fuel cell hydrogen planes ie electric were limited to lower speeds as they are turboprops, and would need to be jets burning the hydrogen to attain that sort of speed?

Variant003

I applaud the progress. It is in the direction of reducing emissions from transport.

But, right now, this looks a lot like we have a big powerful engine and holding a soda bottle of fuel to see if it runs. When we can actually get a reasonable amount of energy storage to feed these behemoths, then I will be truly excited.

In the mean time - if we were to power those motors with fuel cells, then instead of stacked expensive motors we put a hydrogen powered turbine on same shaft. Both turn large ducted fan, but only need to burn hydrogen for high power (such as take off) demands. Reduces demand for such a high power motor ($$$$) for the couple minutes out of every flight actually needed. Instead a cheaper motor that handles the other 80-90% of flight regime. Leverage the existing turbine knowledge to build a hydrogen model.

There is always going to be a new "shiny object". The next break thru is always "just around the corner". What we need is something that makes meaningful impact today, but doesn't become obsolete tomorrow. Using H2 for fuel cell and to burn in turbines allows you to get to market quickly, and switch over to full electric as the technology matures.

Jason

GdB

Altitude performance is only limited by propeller and wing size, so this allows higher speeds at higher altitudes with only small structures weight increase. This is an advantage of electric over turbine power.
Recovering energy on descent flight phase is another great advantage.

Davemart

@SJC:

It seems I have totally misunderstood you, one way or another.

Here you say:

' Electric commercial propeller driven aircraft can cruise at 500 miles an hour i
It's a matter of how powerful the electric motor is and how many motors.'

Whereas here:

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2024/04/20240426-wright.html

You argued:

' With four of these and fuel cells you could fly 100 people 800 miles but you're going to do about 300 miles an hour nowhere near as fast as a jet'

And:

' The speed of the aircraft has nothing to do with the fuel cell it's a propeller driven aircraft the propeller is driven by a motor the motor is powered by electricity from the fuel cells they are not jet engines there is no way they're going to go as fast ...time is money'

So there would appear to be a pretty substantial, ie about 200mph, difference in your statements.

500mph is around the actual cruising speed of a commercial jet, so your latest seems to argue that there are negligible differences whereas previously in the case of electricity provided by fuel cells you argued for major differences.

If you have changed your mind, that is fine, I do whenever find I may have missed something or whatever, sticking to mistaken notion is folly, but it is interesting to know if I have totally misunderstood you, by no means impossible, or if you now feel that the average speed of an electrical aircraft can be considerably greater than you thought at first blush

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