{"id":82075,"date":"2025-04-26T16:44:04","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T20:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=82075"},"modified":"2025-04-26T16:44:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T20:44:04","slug":"whisper-aero-ultralight-aircraft-scores-500k-for-ultraquiet-electric-jet-motor-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=82075","title":{"rendered":"Whisper Aero ultralight aircraft scores $500K for “UltraQuiet” electric jet motor tests"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\"Whisper's<\/figure>\n

Along with Tennessee Tech, Tennessee-based ultralight aircraft company Whisper Aero has secured a $500,000 grant to help advance the company\u2019s innovative electric jet motor concept off the drawing board and onto the testing phase.<\/p>\n

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Earlier this month, the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) announced plans to award $500,000 to Tennessee Tech and Whisper Aero through the Transportation Network Growth Opportunity (TNGO) initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to using these award dollars to place students in internships working directly with Whisper Aero leaders,\u201d said Tennessee Tech President Phil Oldham. \u201cBy learning from an electric propulsion innovator like Whisper Aero, our students will gain invaluable perspective and can take what they have learned in the classroom and apply it right here in Tennessee.\u201d<\/p>\n

The grant will see a Whisper Aero glider fitted with a pair of the company\u2019s eQ250 electric-powered jet \u201cpropulsors\u201d for UltraQuiet flight. Tennessee Tech faculty and students will carry out copper-bird ground testing to ensure the safe integration of engines, batteries, and controllers, and kickstart Tennessee Tech\u2019s new Crossville Mobility Incubator.<\/p>\n

\tAdvertisement – scroll for more content<\/span><\/p>\n

Those propulsors, by the way, are super cool<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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UnltraQuiet WhisperDrive; via Whisper Aero.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whisper Aero\u2019s main claim to fame is its innovative\u00a0UltraQuiet WhisperDrive (above). It\u2019s effectively an electrically spun ducted fan jet engine that uses a large number of stiff composite fan blades inside a lightweight, acoustically treated duct. With so many blades, the Whisper Aero propulsor can push more air than a conventional prop while spinning much more slowly. As such, the \u201cblade passage frequency\u201d moves up to more than 16,000 Hz \u2013 outside the range of most human hearing but not, supposedly, high enough to freak out the beagles.<\/p>\n

The Whisper Aero ultralight is effectively an A\u00e9riane Swift3 glider fitted with a pair of Whisper\u2019s eQ250 propulsors, each capable of up to 80 lbs. of thrust. The Ultralight has a wingspan of over 40 ft with a maximum L\/D of 35:1 and can be stressed to a design loading of +6\/-4g, making it capable of some pretty impressive acrobatic feats.<\/p>\n

The Swift3 glider is designed for a low speed, low power cruising speed of 45\u201355 knots with \u201cjust\u201d 6.5 hp. Power-off glides from a few hundred feet showed a low sink rate, and a climb rate of 1,250 ft\/min with full self-launching power (in other words: the Whisper glider doesn\u2019t have to be towed by a launch vehicle, like a conventional ultralight glider).<\/p>\n

Quiet cool<\/h2>\n
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Dual WhisperDrive fans deliver ~160 lbf of thrust; via Whisper Aero.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Range under full power is about 109 miles with current battery tech, but it\u2019s expected that range under the latest EPiC 2.0 energy batteries would rise to nearly 170 miles.<\/p>\n

Nathan Millecam, CEO of Electric Power System, said, \u201cEPiC 2.0\u2019s leap in energy density and thermal performance has enabled a significant increase in range, a clear validation of our next-gen cell technology. We are impressed by what the Whisper team continues to achieve in advancing electric aviation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The press release concludes explaining that flight tests are expected to show that the Whisper Aero glider can be flown, \u201ca few hundred feet away from neighborhoods without any disturbances<\/a>, while carrying a 220 lbs. payload with full range,\u201d which is all kind of ominous in today\u2019s political climate, but still pretty neat from a purely tech perspective.<\/p>\n

The TNGO grant follows a separate grant from NASA awarded last year<\/a>, though that grant aims to develop the eQ250s \u2013\u00a0not as a propulsion system, but as a key component in future spacecraft ventilation systems.<\/p>\n

Tennessee Tech announces TNGO grant<\/h2>\n
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