Magnetics Business & Technology - September/October 2022 - 26

PRODUCT NEWS
LaunchPoint Launches Hybrid Generators & Power Systems for Electric Flight
Brian Clark, director of engineering and program management,
provides this detail about the generator technology. " LaunchPoint's
patented electric machine utilizes ironless, axial-flux, dual-Halbach
array technology, " says Clark. " The dual Halbach magnet array is
composed of precisely manufactured, ultra-high temperature grade,
Neodymium-Iron-Boron (NdFeB) permanent magnets. "
New hybrid-electric generators and power systems from LaunchPoint
Electric Propulsion Systems, a startup located in Goleta,
California near Santa Barbara, are opening new possibilities in the
fast-growing field of electric-powered flight, particularly for drones
and electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL). The new
products follow award of development contracts from the U.S. Department
of Defense and a round of seed funding that was oversubscribed
by investors. Shown above is its DHA050, a 1.5 kW electric
motor and controller weighing just 0.45 kg, designed to military
specifications.
Since starting as a new business in June 2020, LaunchPoint EPS
has entered multiple contracts with commercial aerospace and
automotive companies and secured grants from the U.S. Department
of Defense to develop hybrid-electric flight technology and
flying cars. The company was spun out from design engineering
firm LaunchPoint Technologies in Goleta that began 30 years ago
as Magnetic Moments, a scientific research and development
enterprise.
As reported earlier in Magnetics Magazine, among its innovations
has been to develop high specific power, high efficiency electric
machines for the demanding, high-reliability applications associated
with hybrid electric UAV flight. The machines are an axial flux
design based on dual-Halbach array magnet rotors and ironless
stators.
The company recently announced the commercialization of its
patent-pending, hybrid electric power system for aircraft, a revolutionary
ecosystem of complex motor and controller hardware, plus
software for eVTOL aircraft of all types. The system increases flight
performance beyond what battery-only or engine-only-powered
flight can deliver. It uses a combination of an internal combustion
engine and a battery electric distributed drive system for propulsion
that increases system-specific power and decreases energy storage
mass.
" Simply put, the LaunchPoint HPS is the brawn and brains of a power
system of what would be characterized as the equivalent of a 'flying
Prius' with cruise control - optimized for vehicle range, payload,
flight/hover time and battery life, " said Rob Reali, LaunchPoint's
chief executive officer. " Our novel arrangements of component
features and innovations meet the needs of the emerging Advanced
Air Mobility (AAM) market. "
The HPS product family consists of electric motors, generators,
drives, controllers, and hybrid electric power management units
designed for power generation and fully electric and hybrid electric
propulsion applications. The system is designed to support both
parallel and series hybrid operations.
" We've evolved the HPS over twelve years to meet the complexities
of demanding flight and safety requirements for AAM and
unmanned aerial systems (UAS), " said Mike Ricci, chief technology
officer. " The integrated electromechanical system utilizes our proprietary
SmartPoint control software to coordinate complex, dynamic
hardware components, including the engines/prime movers, and
intelligently respond to a wide range of system requirements in real
time. The system not only solves the problem of regulating variable
voltage sources - such as PM generators and fuel cells but it
also works together as a microgrid power manager to optimally use
energy resources on a vehicle. Power is rerouted to enable reliable,
fault-tolerant flight. " The company is also making the individual
parts of the system available for licensing and OEM sales.
LaunchPoint HPS products range from 1.5 kW to 40 kW to power
UAS. Systems for passenger and large cargo air mobility applications
are customized solutions in the 40 kW to 250 kW range, and
higher. The systems are designed using its Modeling Advanced
Aircraft Propulsion (MAAP) proprietary software suite, which optimizes
how a powertrain or electrical power system is architected.
Among its suite of products are two other hybrid-electric propulsion
systems, a 6kW hybrid-electric genset for drones and the 40kW
genset for larger drone cargo and future air taxis, along with developing
new products for the higher-power UAV and AAM markets.
Firms in these markets are working to build electric and hybrid-electric
cargo delivery as well as passenger-carrying aircraft.
Its HPS400 GenSet is a 40kW generator with the capacity to power
large drones and flying vehicle missions that require extended
26 Magnetics Business & Technology * September/October 2022
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