LYTE Aviation and Lange Aviation have joined forces to support Cranfield University’s recently approved EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Net Zero Aviation.
Cranfield University has won over £25 million to establish two new Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT) focusing on advancing water security and net zero aviation. Over 120 students will develop high-level skills and technologies through the centres, which will be closely linked to industry. Cranfield is also part of a third new centre, led by Loughborough University, focusing on advancing hydrogen technologies.
The funding forms part of the UK’s biggest-ever investment in engineering and physical sciences doctoral skills, totalling more than £1 billion and creating 65 new Centres for Doctoral Training, and was announced today by Michelle Donelan, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Freshta Farzam, founder and CEO of LYTE Aviation, said: “Our innovative approach for our hybrid-hydrogen approach for our 40 seater eVTOL requires great pioneer minds and experts that realise with us a quick and certifiable prototype. And we see Lange Aviation and their CEO Axel Lange as a great value add-on to our technology.
“Our partnership focuses on hybridisation and certification of our hybrid-hydrogen power output for our prototype. Simultaneously, we are supporting Cranfield University’s successfully approved EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Net Zero Aviation program.”
Panos Laskaridis, Professor of Hybrid Electric Propulsion in the Centre for Propulsion and Thermal Power Engineering, will lead the new centre. He said: “Over the next decade innovative solutions are urgently needed to decarbonise aviation. The knowledge, methods and tools developed by this new centre’s graduates
will help to develop the technologies needed to drive real change in the aviation industry.”
Lange Aviation GmbH describes itself as an expert in sustainable aircraft technology. The company has developed electric power-plants for other aircrafts for the past 30 years. It produced a flying test bed for fuel cell technology in collaboration with German Aerospace Center (DLR), known as ‘Antares DLR-H2’.
The aircraft still carries the full pack of Li-Ion batteries, and can be flown on fuel-cell power alone, on battery power alone and in hybrid mode. This makes testing of new fuel cell systems much easier. The aircraft was announced in September 2008 at Stuttgart Airport, with the first flight on fuel-cell power alone took place in April 2009. The first public demonstration flight took place in July 2009 in Hamburg.
The company has also developed the next experimental aircraft called the Antares E2. The Antares E2 is a higher performance successor to the Antares DLR-H2 and the first flight is due to take place in 2024. Like the H2, it is based on the Antares 20E and it also uses hydrogen fuel cells.
“We are very much looking forward to working together on this exciting project”, added Axel Lange.
LYTE Aviation is pioneering the industry’s first 40-seat eVTOL, a heavyweight passenger mass transit VTOL aircraft branded the SkyBus LA-44. It is also designing a cargo variant, SkyTruck LA-44C, offering a payload capacity of 4.5 tons and a recently launched 19-seater X‑Prime version. With its tandem tilt-wing technology, power will come from hybrid-hydrogen-electric turboprops and electric engines.
Farzam added: “The SkyBus / SkyTruck is an ideal solution to extend current ferry transport solutions on waterways, like e.g. in the APAC region or the US, or to extend regional aviation with new routes for passenger mass and cargo transit, without requiring a runway anymore. Moving more people and more goods, with higher speed, frequency and flexibility, from point to point.”
Owing to the use of proven and existing technologies available today, LYTE Aviation is estimating entering the market within five to six years.
