Skyfly Technologies is making the electric propulsion system it developed for light sport aircraft available to other aircraft manufacturers, and has unveiled a separate hybrid system aimed at unmanned aircraft that use distributed electric propulsion.
The electric propulsion technology has been engineered to comply with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) light sport aircraft (LSA) requirements, and will be offered to other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) through the secondary market. Skyfly said the architecture supports a range of aircraft configurations, leaving manufacturers to decide how it is integrated.
The company said the intention is to allow manufacturers to bring an electrified aircraft to market without developing propulsion capability of their own.
At the core of the package is the Integrated Motor Inverter, a combined motor and inverter unit co-developed with SciMo, an engineering company based in Germany. According to Skyfly, the unit can be treated as a direct swap for a 100hp Rotax engine.
The motor is paired with a power distribution unit built around the company’s own architecture and LSA safety requirements, and an 800V-class battery system developed in-house. Full specifications for both are to be released ahead of availability.
Michael Thompson, CEO of Skyfly Technologies, said, “We’ve been engineering a propulsion system built specifically for the demands and safety requirements of light sport aircraft.”
Skyfly holds a seat on the rulemaking committee for the FAA’s forthcoming MOSAIC rule, which the company said has given it direct insight into the certification requirements an LSA propulsion system will have to meet.
The hybrid propulsion system announced alongside it is aimed at unmanned platforms using distributed electric propulsion (DEP) rather than at the light sport segment. It is built around a lightweight, high-power turbine generator intended to provide the range and endurance that battery-electric architectures cannot yet deliver.
Skyfly said the system extends range to more than 400 miles (640km) and can charge in flight as well as recharge on the ground when off-grid. Compatibility with JP8 fuel is intended to extend its use beyond civil unmanned aircraft into military applications.
The Integrated Motor Inverter is available now for evaluation and integration by OEMs. The power distribution unit, battery modules and hybrid propulsion system remain in active development, with specifications and availability timelines to follow.
Both were announced at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in July, where Skyfly displayed the production-spec version of its Axe aircraft, which uses the same electric propulsion system.
