Award

Seaflight‘s circulation control (CC) technique - using compressed air blowing over conventional flaps - could be applied to the wing of almost any small hybrid or fully electric fixed wing aircraft to reduce takeoff energy requirements, and shorten takeoff/landing distances by up to 80% for a Cessna 208-sized airframe (for example). It temporarily triples lift over a wing without any extra propulsion or exterior surface modification. Flap deflections of up to 80 degrees can maintain attached air flow to achieve lift coefficients far in excess of conventional multi-element flap arrangements, thus allowing for wings that can be designed slimmer (higher aspect ratio) and more efficient for cruise where circulation control is not in use. Therefore, this innovation improves short takeoff performance as well as enhancing range and efficiency. Seaflight's implementation of circulation control is novel for electrified fixed wing platforms, but builds on extensive historical research and development that never achieved commercialization due to the cost, mass and complexity of plumbing compressed air from combustion engines. By contrast, our lightweight system is stand-alone, compact, and unique to electrified architectures that feature new opportunities for packaging such a system in new ways.