Eviation Aircraft
Eviation Aircraft Stratasys
Eviation electric aircraft designed to take 9 passengers up to 1,000km at more than 240kts - all at the price of a train ticket.
Eviation Aircraft, a design company operating in the aerospace sector, is the latest company to partner with Stratasys and leverage its 3D printing technologies to advance its output.
Earlier this month, Stratasys announced its support for Boom Supersonic as they aim for supersonic air travel. The additive manufacturing solutions company’s newest partner is looking to harness 3D printing to develop one of the world’s first all-electric commuter aircrafts. And the aviation designers have already made progress on their goal, incorporating Stratasys 3D printing technology throughout their research and development processes.
Eviation Aircraft is a business made up of entrepreneurs, all with technology innovation and programming experience. They are also members in the NASA, FAA and GAMA electric aviation committees, and want to pioneer accessible, sustainable, eco-friendly air travel. Participating in the race to develop electric and hybrid-electric commercial aircraft, Eviation Aircraft feels with the support of Stratasys they have gained an advantage on its competitors.
“In the next four years, Eviation aims to make regional air travel a cost-effective and clean option that rivals any existing form of transit today,” said Eviation founder and CEO, Omer Bar-Yohay. “With people working and commuting across greater distances than ever before, we believe the solution will bring mid-range cities like Seoul and Beijing, or London and Paris, closer together through all-electric air travel.
“Our ability to create new iterations of designs with 3D printing and see how they perform in real-time is helping reduce critical capital costs, even as we accelerate our rapid prototyping phase. The kind of highly iterative, in-house manufacturing process that Stratasys Fortus 3D printers has refined is crucial to the life of a company in the constantly changing, and highly competitive, transportation space.”
Incorporating Stratasys Fortus 3D printers (FDM), Eviation was able to test the functionality of their designs, making alterations where applicable, long before the company needed to invest in actual certifiable parts. The wing-tip motors of one aircraft saw a swifter design process, and were 3D printed so their functionality could be assessed, while the engineers waited for the final motors to be shipped. Another example was amendments being made to the exterior of the aircraft. Smoother, curved surfaces were designed to reduce interference drag. Eviation was able to create the required strong, geometrically complex, lightweight parts to support these surfaces by printing a composite lay-up tool in ULTEM 1010 material, which was then covered in carbon fibre.
“All in all, in two years of operation we have saved several hundreds of thousands of dollars with Stratasys 3D printing and I would estimate six months or more of workforce hours,” assesses Bar-Yohay. “Today we are using the technology for prototyping test parts and tooling; the ability to produce lightweight parts in complex geometries will also enable us to explore the possibility if 3D printing parts for the final aircraft.”
“Eviation is a great example of how 3D printing promotes in-house innovation and can accelerate and produce working prototypes quickly, without racking up significant costs up front,” adds Zehavit Reisin, Vice President, Head of Rapid Prototyping Solutions Business Unit, Stratasys. “Our extensive experience in aerospace – ranging from prototypes and tools to the use of our technology for flight-certified aircraft interior and launch vehicle components – makes Stratasys solutions an optimal fit for aviation companies looking to improve cycle time and development efficiency, while pushing the envelope of innovation.”
Eviation is expected to begin flight testing towards the end of 2018, targeting 2021 for commercial availability. Meanwhile, Stratasys 3D printed parts for Eviation Aircraft are being displayed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed (FoS) in the Future Lab, June 29th to July 2nd.
