SANTA CLARA, Calif., - California-based Archer Aviation aims to “unlock the skies” and reimagine air travel with its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, Midnight, Peter Johnson reports for Electrek. Continue reading original article.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
12 May 2023 - Archer says its Midnight eVTOL has high redundancy and simplified propulsion systems to make for a safer aircraft compared to a helicopter. Midnight has no single critical points of failure, meaning that should any single component fail, the aircraft can still safely complete its flight. In addition, the electric motors used in Midnight have significantly less moving parts than those found in a gas turbine or piston engine, allowing it to operate with less maintenance and lower overall risk.
The eVTOL is designed to cruise at approximately 2,000 feet, the design of Midnight is such that the noise that reaches the ground is expected to measure around 45 A-weighted decibels (dBA), which the company says is almost 1,000 times quieter than that of a helicopter. During forward flight, the aircraft’s tilt propellers spin on axes that are aligned with the oncoming air flow, rather than edge-wise to the flow, as is the case with traditional helicopters - further decreasing noise levels. Since Archer’s aircraft is spinning 12 small propellers rather than one large rotor, it can also spin them at significantly lower tip speeds, resulting in much lower noise levels.
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Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
