Icaré 2 with Wing Tip Propellers during a Test Flight
Photo: Universität Stuttgart
The solar-powered motor glider Icaré 2 has been equipped with additional, electrically driven wing tip propellers in close collaboration with the institute of aircraft design (IFB). The aircraft serves as a manned testbed for distributed electric propulsion and is used to investigate the influence of wing tip propellers on the aircraft handling qualities as well as their use for manual and automated yaw control.
Manned flight tests of the Icaré 2 with a control system developed at the iFR successfully demonstrated the use of wing tip propellers for automated yaw control. Additionally, their use to counteract the significant adverse yaw of the Icaré 2 in manual flight was shown by coupling differential thrust with aileron commands.