Russia has flown prototypes of its six-seat hybrid VTOL Cyclocar

Russia has flown prototypes of its six-seat hybrid VTOL Cyclocar​

By Loz Blain
June 20, 2021

The Cyclocar will carry six people, or up to 600 kg of cargo, up to 500 km (310 miles) thanks to a hybrid powertrain and that unconventional propulsion system
Russian Government

Russia's Foundation for Advanced Research has already flown a 60-kg (132-lb) prototype of its Cyclocar VTOL aircraft, which uses a super-responsive cyclical propeller propulsion system. A full-size, long-range, six-seat Cyclocar is expected to fly in 2022.

We've seen this cyclic propulsion system before, from Austria's Cyclotech, which was previously known as D-Dalus. It places a number of variable-pitch blades in fast-rotating barrels. Each blade changes pitch constantly as the barrel spins, meaning each corner of the aircraft can vector its thrust through 360 degrees nearly instantly, without changing the RPM of the motors.

While this would make cyclic propulsion a terrific solution for a gasoline-powered VTOL, the Russians are planning to use it with a hybrid propulsion system, with full electric drive and a range-extending combustion generator. The six-seat aircraft is expected to fly at up to 250 km/h (155 mph) – this is a fair bit slower than many lift and cruise or vectored thrust multicopter designs, presumably because it has no wings and needs to keep its thrust vectored partially downward at all times.

Range, on the other hand, is huge at up to 500 km (310 miles) thanks to the excellent energy density of gasoline. The final generator engine hasn't been decided on at this stage, but it'll be Russian-built, and either a rotary piston engine or a turboshaft. The propulsion barrels will have a large diameter of 1.5 m (5 ft), and it'll carry up to six people, or 600 kg (1,323 lb) of payload, in either piloted, autonomous or remote-controlled trim. A loading ramp at the rear will improve access for disabled passengers and make cargo loading more practical.

Циклодрон. Полеты с причаливанием к вертикальной поверхности и посадкой на наклонную поверхность

The team has worked out the kinks and complexities in the propulsion system flying sub-scale prototypes shown in the video above, the largest of which weighs 60 kg. The video also demonstrates a rather hair-raising capability of the aircraft to hover in a vertical orientation like a tail-sitter, which we guess might be handy in tight parking spaces?

Project team leader Yan Chibisov said in a Russian-language press release that while the cyclic propulsion system was very aerodynamically complex, it's quiet, compact, and shielded for protection against foreign objects, while enabling very fast thrust vectoring. Initial testing undertaken in conjunction with the Novosibirsk Institute of Thermophysics, said Chibisov, fully confirmed the team's thrust and power consumption calculations, and he's confident that the system will make its way onto an aircraft within three years.

With a full-size, battery-electric prototype expected to begin test flights in 2022, it'll be interesting to see where the Cyclocar goes from here. Commercialization is no joke, and a highly expensive process. The team's video, shown below, appears to suggest that it might start out as a military project first and foremost.

Циклокар - шестиместный аэромобиль с гибридной силовой установкой

Source: Advanced Research Foundation via Interesting Engineering

---

Jamahir's comment : Last year's article but important. What the Russians are calling as "Cyclic propulsion system" is also known as the Cyclorotor which concept was made known to me by @Hamartia Antidote. I believe this will be the mechanism in some years for intra-city and medium-range inter-city passenger transport replacing ground vehicles and those non-elegant and dangerous quadcopters in fashion now. The cyclorotor will prevail until the MEGA drive will become the propulsion method. The MEGA drive which is an electro-mechanical local-to-vehicle gravity-modifying propulsion system is under development by Prof. James Woodward and team and you can read and watch more on it here.

Related thread of mine :

Making the case for a global ban on privately-owned personal transport cars and two-wheelers

I have often made this topic in posts so I thought why not create a thread for this for discussion and readership. Privately-owned personal transport vehicles ( cars and two-wheelers ) are I believe the biggest form of pollution in the world, directly through their usage and secondarily through...

defence.pk

@Bilal9 @fitpOsitive @STREANH @Drizzt @Kai Liu @FairAndUnbiased @Beast others

 

[jamahir]

@Joe Shearer

 

[Joe Shearer]

@Joe Shearer

Utterly fascinating.

Not quite my cup of tea, unfortunately.

 

[fitpOsitive]

Russia has flown prototypes of its six-seat hybrid VTOL Cyclocar​

By Loz Blain
June 20, 2021

The Cyclocar will carry six people, or up to 600 kg of cargo, up to 500 km (310 miles) thanks to a hybrid powertrain and that unconventional propulsion system
Russian Government

Russia's Foundation for Advanced Research has already flown a 60-kg (132-lb) prototype of its Cyclocar VTOL aircraft, which uses a super-responsive cyclical propeller propulsion system. A full-size, long-range, six-seat Cyclocar is expected to fly in 2022.

We've seen this cyclic propulsion system before, from Austria's Cyclotech, which was previously known as D-Dalus. It places a number of variable-pitch blades in fast-rotating barrels. Each blade changes pitch constantly as the barrel spins, meaning each corner of the aircraft can vector its thrust through 360 degrees nearly instantly, without changing the RPM of the motors.

While this would make cyclic propulsion a terrific solution for a gasoline-powered VTOL, the Russians are planning to use it with a hybrid propulsion system, with full electric drive and a range-extending combustion generator. The six-seat aircraft is expected to fly at up to 250 km/h (155 mph) – this is a fair bit slower than many lift and cruise or vectored thrust multicopter designs, presumably because it has no wings and needs to keep its thrust vectored partially downward at all times.

Range, on the other hand, is huge at up to 500 km (310 miles) thanks to the excellent energy density of gasoline. The final generator engine hasn't been decided on at this stage, but it'll be Russian-built, and either a rotary piston engine or a turboshaft. The propulsion barrels will have a large diameter of 1.5 m (5 ft), and it'll carry up to six people, or 600 kg (1,323 lb) of payload, in either piloted, autonomous or remote-controlled trim. A loading ramp at the rear will improve access for disabled passengers and make cargo loading more practical.

Циклодрон. Полеты с причаливанием к вертикальной поверхности и посадкой на наклонную поверхность

The team has worked out the kinks and complexities in the propulsion system flying sub-scale prototypes shown in the video above, the largest of which weighs 60 kg. The video also demonstrates a rather hair-raising capability of the aircraft to hover in a vertical orientation like a tail-sitter, which we guess might be handy in tight parking spaces?

Project team leader Yan Chibisov said in a Russian-language press release that while the cyclic propulsion system was very aerodynamically complex, it's quiet, compact, and shielded for protection against foreign objects, while enabling very fast thrust vectoring. Initial testing undertaken in conjunction with the Novosibirsk Institute of Thermophysics, said Chibisov, fully confirmed the team's thrust and power consumption calculations, and he's confident that the system will make its way onto an aircraft within three years.

With a full-size, battery-electric prototype expected to begin test flights in 2022, it'll be interesting to see where the Cyclocar goes from here. Commercialization is no joke, and a highly expensive process. The team's video, shown below, appears to suggest that it might start out as a military project first and foremost.

Циклокар - шестиместный аэромобиль с гибридной силовой установкой

Source: Advanced Research Foundation via Interesting Engineering

---

Jamahir's comment : Last year's article but important. What the Russians are calling as "Cyclic propulsion system" is also known as the Cyclorotor which concept was made known to me by @Hamartia Antidote. I believe this will be the mechanism in some years for intra-city and medium-range inter-city passenger transport replacing ground vehicles and those non-elegant and dangerous quadcopters in fashion now. The cyclorotor will prevail until the MEGA drive will become the propulsion method. The MEGA drive which is an electro-mechanical local-to-vehicle gravity-modifying propulsion system is under development by Prof. James Woodward and team and you can read and watch more on it here.

Related thread of mine :

Making the case for a global ban on privately-owned personal transport cars and two-wheelers

I have often made this topic in posts so I thought why not create a thread for this for discussion and readership. Privately-owned personal transport vehicles ( cars and two-wheelers ) are I believe the biggest form of pollution in the world, directly through their usage and secondarily through...

defence.pk

@Bilal9 @fitpOsitive @STREANH @Drizzt @Kai Liu @FairAndUnbiased @Beast others

Well these Russians have a very very high flying imagination, but most of the time they don't find any investmentors for that.
On a serious note, you don't know Europeans, they will never allow a ban against personal liberties. So I will say, you throw your communist ideas out of window and join the progressive team. Maza aaeyga kafi.

 

[jamahir]

Well these Russians have a very very high flying imagination, but most of the time they don't find any investmentors for that.

Well, the Russians have high-flying imagination and they have funds also in this case. This Russian project is a government-funded one undertaken by the Advanced Research Foundation which is a government body. Also, the first usage will be in military application as per the article so it is one of the priority projects ( the second vid ). So funds are no problemo.

On a serious note, you don't know Europeans, they will never allow a ban against personal liberties. So I will say, you throw your communist ideas out of window and join the progressive team. Maza aaeyga kafi.

1. I am not for banning someone's personal liberties. What I speak only of making society harmonious. Think if all those few billion personal transport vehicles of present - two-wheelers and cars - in the world are replaced by some millions of taxis and buses. Won't it be nice for the people of the world ? Won't it be so much better for the environment ? That ridiculous COP-26 "climate change conference" in Britain some months ago was essentially, in the words of environment activists, a green wash. India's prime minister declared that India will become carbon neutral by 2070 - 50 years from now. And until then he said India should be allowed to "develop" like how the West developed. In other words India be allowed to pollute Earth even more. As it is, India is among the top three polluters, the other two being China and USA, and the biggest source of pollution is personal transport vehicles at primary level, secondary level and tertiary level. Please go through that thread again.

2. You speak of Europeans. Well, there is a German organization called Neutrino Energy Group which is developing a battery that neutrino particles to generate electricity. Neutrinos are particles that are present I suppose everywhere in the universe and they are produced by neutron stars, regular stars, human-made nuclear reactions and also by cosmic particles interacting with Earth's atmosphere. Every second there are billions of neutrinos flowing through you. The kinetic energy of neutrinos can be harnessed to create a nano-materials-using battery that can produce electricity basically forever i.e. until the battery doesn't degrade by itself which can be in many many years and such a battery or a collection of batteries can power a small device ( like a cell phone or cooking stove ) or a larger machine ( like a vehicle ) or other machines at local level. Device level. There will be a neutrino battery that will produce electricity and there will be a regular chargeable battery to store that electricity and act as buffer. Think of the possibilities here. All those polluting or inefficient ways of generating electricity now like nuclear power, coal power, gas power, oil power, wind power, hydropower, solar power etc can be replaced by decentralized, application-level batteries. There would be no need of huge centralized power stations nor of the ugly and dangerous transmission infrastructure - ( cross-country powerlines, city substations, neighborhood transformers and powerlines ). Actually an Indian government body called C-MET has signed a collaboration with the German organization around the development of a car that will use such a battery and needs no roadside charging infrastructure. Think of the revolution especially so if the battery is used in buses, taxis, ambulances, police vehicles, fire engines etc with all personal vehicles removed. Think of the environmental, political and socio-economic effects of this.

3. Communism is progressivism.

 

[fitpOsitive]

Well, the Russians have high-flying imagination and they have funds also in this case. This Russian project is a government-funded one undertaken by the Advanced Research Foundation which is a government body. Also, the first usage will be in military application as per the article so it is one of the priority projects ( the second vid ). So funds are no problemo.



1. I am not for banning someone's personal liberties. What I speak only of making society harmonious. Think if all those few billion personal transport vehicles of present - two-wheelers and cars - in the world are replaced by some millions of taxis and buses. Won't it be nice for the people of the world ? Won't it be so much better for the environment ? That ridiculous COP-26 "climate change conference" in Britain some months ago was essentially, in the words of environment activists, a green wash. India's prime minister declared that India will become carbon neutral by 2070 - 50 years from now. And until then he said India should be allowed to "develop" like how the West developed. In other words India be allowed to pollute Earth even more. As it is, India is among the top three polluters, the other two being China and USA, and the biggest source of pollution is personal transport vehicles at primary level, secondary level and tertiary level. Please go through that thread again.

2. You speak of Europeans. Well, there is a German organization called Neutrino Energy Group which is developing a battery that neutrino particles to generate electricity. Neutrinos are particles that are present I suppose everywhere in the universe and they are produced by neutron stars, regular stars, human-made nuclear reactions and also by cosmic particles interacting with Earth's atmosphere. Every second there are billions of neutrinos flowing through you. The kinetic energy of neutrinos can be harnessed to create a nano-materials-using battery that can produce electricity basically forever i.e. until the battery doesn't degrade by itself which can be in many many years and such a battery or a collection of batteries can power a small device ( like a cell phone or cooking stove ) or a larger machine ( like a vehicle ) or other machines at local level. Device level. There will be a neutrino battery that will produce electricity and there will be a regular chargeable battery to store that electricity and act as buffer. Think of the possibilities here. All those polluting or inefficient ways of generating electricity now like nuclear power, coal power, gas power, oil power, wind power, hydropower, solar power etc can be replaced by decentralized, application-level batteries. There would be no need of huge centralized power stations nor of the ugly and dangerous transmission infrastructure - ( cross-country powerlines, city substations, neighborhood transformers and powerlines ). Actually an Indian government body called C-MET has signed a collaboration with the German organization around the development of a car that will use such a battery and needs no roadside charging infrastructure. Think of the revolution especially so if the battery is used in buses, taxis, ambulances, police vehicles, fire engines etc with all personal vehicles removed. Think of the environmental, political and socio-economic effects of this.

3. Communism is progressivism.

Sir aapky lamby lamby posts daikh ker hi tabiat kharab si hony lagti Hai.
But technology comes on 4th or 5th place in peoples priorities. First is self interest. And if they will not sell vehicles to individuals then they will not survive. And let's start from this point.

 

[jamahir]

Sir aapky lamby lamby posts daikh ker hi tabiat kharab si hony lagti Hai.

Ha ha.

But technology comes on 4th or 5th place in peoples priorities. First is self interest. And if they will not sell vehicles to individuals then they will not survive. And let's start from this point.

OK so why couldn't governments put those vehicle showroom workers and vehicle manufacturer workers into manufacturing and managing bus and taxi manufacture companies ? Or retrained to be put into other employments like scientific agriculture in urban areas like how Venezuela is doing and making its cities somewhat food self-sufficient ?

Or many of these people can be put into managing a scientific, modernized, progressive political system ? Or into scientific, progressive banking system ? These two things just require a human perspective, no unnecessary college degrees. There are many other possibilities for employment.

 

[fitpOsitive]

Ha ha.



OK so why couldn't governments put those vehicle showroom workers and vehicle manufacturer workers into manufacturing and managing bus and taxi manufacture companies ? Or retrained to be put into other employments like scientific agriculture in urban areas like how Venezuela is doing and making its cities somewhat food self-sufficient ?

Or many of these people can be put into managing a scientific, modernized, progressive political system ? Or into scientific, progressive banking system ? These two things just require a human perspective, no unnecessary college degrees. There are many other possibilities for employment.

Govt owned companies can be world class but govts can't provided millions of jobs. That's the reason we Pakistanis are fighting like cats and dogs for govt jobs here in Sindh(but there are some other reasons too, and oppression is one of them).

 

[jamahir]

Govt owned companies can be world class but govts can't provided millions of jobs. That's the reason we Pakistanis are fighting like cats and dogs for govt jobs here in Sindh(but there are some other reasons too, and oppression is one of them).

Oppression ?

 

[fitpOsitive]

Oppression ?

Han kch Hai, but it surely doesn't have to do any thing with communism. It's a pure harami pan thing, may be little bit of a maxican in nature.

 

[Drizzt]

Russia has flown prototypes of its six-seat hybrid VTOL Cyclocar​

By Loz Blain
June 20, 2021

The Cyclocar will carry six people, or up to 600 kg of cargo, up to 500 km (310 miles) thanks to a hybrid powertrain and that unconventional propulsion system
Russian Government

Russia's Foundation for Advanced Research has already flown a 60-kg (132-lb) prototype of its Cyclocar VTOL aircraft, which uses a super-responsive cyclical propeller propulsion system. A full-size, long-range, six-seat Cyclocar is expected to fly in 2022.

We've seen this cyclic propulsion system before, from Austria's Cyclotech, which was previously known as D-Dalus. It places a number of variable-pitch blades in fast-rotating barrels. Each blade changes pitch constantly as the barrel spins, meaning each corner of the aircraft can vector its thrust through 360 degrees nearly instantly, without changing the RPM of the motors.

While this would make cyclic propulsion a terrific solution for a gasoline-powered VTOL, the Russians are planning to use it with a hybrid propulsion system, with full electric drive and a range-extending combustion generator. The six-seat aircraft is expected to fly at up to 250 km/h (155 mph) – this is a fair bit slower than many lift and cruise or vectored thrust multicopter designs, presumably because it has no wings and needs to keep its thrust vectored partially downward at all times.

Range, on the other hand, is huge at up to 500 km (310 miles) thanks to the excellent energy density of gasoline. The final generator engine hasn't been decided on at this stage, but it'll be Russian-built, and either a rotary piston engine or a turboshaft. The propulsion barrels will have a large diameter of 1.5 m (5 ft), and it'll carry up to six people, or 600 kg (1,323 lb) of payload, in either piloted, autonomous or remote-controlled trim. A loading ramp at the rear will improve access for disabled passengers and make cargo loading more practical.

Циклодрон. Полеты с причаливанием к вертикальной поверхности и посадкой на наклонную поверхность

The team has worked out the kinks and complexities in the propulsion system flying sub-scale prototypes shown in the video above, the largest of which weighs 60 kg. The video also demonstrates a rather hair-raising capability of the aircraft to hover in a vertical orientation like a tail-sitter, which we guess might be handy in tight parking spaces?

Project team leader Yan Chibisov said in a Russian-language press release that while the cyclic propulsion system was very aerodynamically complex, it's quiet, compact, and shielded for protection against foreign objects, while enabling very fast thrust vectoring. Initial testing undertaken in conjunction with the Novosibirsk Institute of Thermophysics, said Chibisov, fully confirmed the team's thrust and power consumption calculations, and he's confident that the system will make its way onto an aircraft within three years.

With a full-size, battery-electric prototype expected to begin test flights in 2022, it'll be interesting to see where the Cyclocar goes from here. Commercialization is no joke, and a highly expensive process. The team's video, shown below, appears to suggest that it might start out as a military project first and foremost.

Циклокар - шестиместный аэромобиль с гибридной силовой установкой

Source: Advanced Research Foundation via Interesting Engineering

---

Jamahir's comment : Last year's article but important. What the Russians are calling as "Cyclic propulsion system" is also known as the Cyclorotor which concept was made known to me by @Hamartia Antidote. I believe this will be the mechanism in some years for intra-city and medium-range inter-city passenger transport replacing ground vehicles and those non-elegant and dangerous quadcopters in fashion now. The cyclorotor will prevail until the MEGA drive will become the propulsion method. The MEGA drive which is an electro-mechanical local-to-vehicle gravity-modifying propulsion system is under development by Prof. James Woodward and team and you can read and watch more on it here.

Related thread of mine :

Making the case for a global ban on privately-owned personal transport cars and two-wheelers

I have often made this topic in posts so I thought why not create a thread for this for discussion and readership. Privately-owned personal transport vehicles ( cars and two-wheelers ) are I believe the biggest form of pollution in the world, directly through their usage and secondarily through...

defence.pk

@Bilal9 @fitpOsitive @STREANH @Drizzt @Kai Liu @FairAndUnbiased @Beast others

Looks interesting

shows principle of how it works at 30 seconds.

But, I don't think it be very safe as a people transport, too many moving parts, too many things that can break. It will be maintenance headache. If a helicopter engine fails it can autorotate to drop slowly and land. https://skybrary.aero/articles/autorotation#:~:text=Autorotation is a condition of,of air through the rotor.
Fixed wing can glide to some degree, and cushion its fall.
This may work out as a drone, if it has any benefits over conventional ones.

 

[jamahir]

Looks interesting
shows principle of how it works at 30 seconds.

I know about the company CycloTech. It was Hamartia Antidote who posted in a thread last year to me about that company's first in-lab-flying prototype. And I have discussed the cyclorotor, including CycloTech, with a senior of mine in my city.

But, I don't think it be very safe as a people transport, too many moving parts, too many things that can break. It will be maintenance headache. If a helicopter engine fails it can autorotate to drop slowly and land. https://skybrary.aero/articles/autorotation#:~:text=Autorotation is a condition of,of air through the rotor.
Fixed wing can glide to some degree, and cushion its fall.
This may work out as a drone, if it has any benefits over conventional ones.

1. If the cyclorotor isn't safe then even more so aren't those single-person-carrying and multi-passenger-taxi quadcopters and octacopters from EHang, XPeng and Jetson yet those exist.

2. "Too many moving parts" can also be converted to "too many parts" which exist within big passenger aeroplanes.

3. This is an example of a medium-size American military helicopter auto rotating and landing but this example is a few feet from the ground and the helicopter is already hovering, not going ahead. What if the helicopter was a 1000 feet or more above the ground and was going ahead and the main engine and the tail engine failed ? Would it be able to safely land ? What if like this Russian helicopter it tried to land over water and broke up ?

4. As for benefits of a cyclorotor-based craft it supposedly is better at handling crosswinds than regular drones / quadcopters etc. And the form is elegant too and seems more natural than a quadcopter, octacopter et c and a small to medium helicopter. Why else has the Russian military seen it as a better craft to carry soldiers to certain situations ( watch the second vid in the OP ) ?