Building the Impossible Airplane Challenges and Highlights

Robert Fraefel

Head of Airplane Development

Solar Impulse

November 2015

An idea born in Switzerland

HEAD OF ENGINEERING

LEADING THE TECHNICAL

PROGRAM

FINDING THE BEST COMPROMISE

WITH THE INTERDISCIPLINARY

TEAM AND REALIZE

HEAD OF TROUBLESHOOTING

3

DEMONSTRATING THE POTENTIAL OF CLEAN

TECHNOLOGIES AND RENEWABLE ENERGY

4

PUSHING BACK THE

BOUNDARIES

OF KNOWLEDGE

PROVING THE

IMPOSSIBLE

5

SCIENCE AND INNOVATION COMBINED TO PROMOTE A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE

TWO PILOTS, Borschberg and Piccard

Inspiring

Clean technologies

Political reach

Leading

Managerial

experience

Innovative solutions

7

Challenges and Achievements

8

9

10

Flight Card:

• Pilot: Andre Borschberg

• Takeoff: 3:03 am local time Japan 29

June 2015

• Landing: 05:55 am local time Hawaii 3

July 2015

• Flight time: 117:52 hours

• Maximum altitude: 28,000 ft.

FAI World Records:

• Straight distance pre-declared

performance

• Distance along course

• Straight distance free-flight

performance

• Distance free-flight along course,

optimised to maximise distance

Nagoya to Hawaii - The Moment of Truth

11

FIRST EXPERIMENTAL

AIRPLANE CERTIFIED

TO FLY OVER

DENSELY

POPULATED AREAS

12

December 2009 – The

flea hop

July 2010

Solar Impulse Night Flight

2011 European

Solar Flights

2012 – Crossin

g Frontier

s

2013 – Across Americ

a

April 2014 –

Unveiling Solar

Impulse 2

Summer 2014 –

Test Flights

2015

Part 1: The Round-

The-World Solar Flight

2016 Part 2: The Round-The-World Solar Flight

TIMELINE

13

THE TECHNICAL

CHALLENGE

14

A FLYING LABORATORY

ULTRA-LIGHT, YET CAPABLE

OF WITHSTANDING HUGE

STRESSES

15

WINGSPAN OF A BOEING 747

(72M/ 236FT)

16

WEIGHT OF A FAMILY CAR

2.3 TONNES / 5,000 POUNDS

17

17,248 SOLAR CELLS

EACH THE THICKNESS OF A HUMAN HAIR

BEST COMPROMISE BETWEEN LIGHTNESS

AND EFFICIENCY (23%)

18

4 BRUSHLESS & SENSORLESS MOTORS

EACH ONE HAS 17.4 HP, RECORD 94% EFFICIENCY

(THERMAL MOTORS ARE 30% EFFICIENT)

19

BATTERIES MOUNTED ON

ENGINE PODS, INSULATED BY

HIGH-DENSITY FOAM

1/4 OF TOTAL AIRCRAFT WEIGHT

20

COCKPIT ISOLATION FOAM

INSULATION FROM

EXTREME TEMPERATURES

21

DESIGN AND

CONSTRUCTION

22

PRODUCTION WORKSHOP

EACH COMPONENT CERTIFIED

AS "FIT TO FLY"

23

CONFIGURATION & STRUCTURE

ENGINEERS, PHYSICISTS,

COMPUTER DESIGN &

AERODYNAMICS EXPERTS 24

SOLAR IMPULSE

&

DASSAULT SYSTEMES

25

IN TWO STEPS

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

26 hours flight

HB-SIA

HB-SIB

Around the world flight

2015

26

“We had to be right the first time. We needed proven, cutting edge industry

solutions to craft the experience for which we were looking. That’s why we

went to Dassault Systèmes and its 3DEXPERIENCE.” Bertrand Piccard, Initiator, Chairman and Pilot, Solar Impulse

Dassault Systèmes

Building such innovative and unique airplane came with

particular challenges:

• New wing and fuselage designs

• New materials to achieve strict weight objectives

• Ergonomic design of the cockpit to accommodate a pilot for

5 days and 5 nights, insuring comfort and safety.

Solar Impulse uses Dassault Systémes applications since

2006

More particularly the design, construction and validation of

the SI2 plane was done with the vital support of Dassault

Systems 3DEXPERIENCE platform: CATIA and ENOVIA •

28

1. CAD

2. FEM

3. Composite Design

29

30 4. Drawing for Hand-Manufacturing

5. Production 31

6. Assembly

31

Process

Parallelization

32

COCKPIT

ERGONOMICS

33

PILOT SEAT

YOGA LOADCASE

34

HAWAII IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE TO THE BATTERIES CAUSE A CONTINUATION NEXT YEAR

35

36

37