Geared Motor Exploration for the Research Aircraft for eVTOL Enabling techNologies (RAVEN)

In the past several years, a number of large-scale prototype electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft have been flight tested by aircraft manufacturers to achieve their commercial product development goals for the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) market. Owing to intellectual property and propriety information concerns, however, relatively few large-scale eVTOL aircraft have been flight tested for research purposes to produce data that can be published to benefit the broader aeronautics community. The corresponding lack of available flight test data makes it difficult for researchers to validate and improve computational tools that are needed for advancing the state of the art in eVTOL aircraft design. The proposed Phase I effort will advance the development of the Research Aircraft for eVTOL Enabling techNologies (RAVEN). RAVEN is an eVTOL aircraft with a gross weight of over 1000 lbs that is being developed to conduct flight research related to acoustics, flight dynamics and control, interactional aerodynamics, and autonomy for AAM aircraft. The work in Phase I will focus on conceptual design of a geared drive system to enable hovering flight at reduced proprotor rotational speeds, thereby further increasing RAVEN’s applicability for eVTOL acoustics research. An additional goal in the design of the geared drive system is to enhance RAVEN’s operational robustness by reducing aircraft weight and power consumption to increase range and endurance, lower heat loads, and increase margin for weight growth.