Bartini eVTOL
Bartini eVTOL
Bartini, Inc.
Cupertino, USA
www.bartini.aero
Bartini unveiled its eVTOL concept in July 2017. The company is named for the "Bartini Effect" — which is the increase in thrust created by mounting co-axial counter-rotating thrusters within a nacelle.
Bartini is a two and four-passenger self-navigating eVTOL, sedan-sized, “quadcopter” with a flying wing lifting body. Four ducted thrusters tilt-shift for cruise mode. Each thruster has two coaxial variable-pitch props. The concept has been patented and proven on several computer fluid dynamics studies, scaled functional prototypes, and flight testing.
The company began building and testing an unmanned 50% prototype in October 2018 to prove that rotating ducted thrusters, in conjunction with the aircraft's aerodynamic shaping, reduces power consumption in cruise.
The eVTOL is designed in four modifications: two-seat, four-seat, powered by lithium batteries, and by Hydrogen fuel cells. Operation is designed in two modes, manual and autonomous. Use case: the passenger indicates the destination, the aircraft takes-off vertically from almost any parking space, tilts propulsors to a vertical position, and can cover over 500 km at 300 km/h, then land vertically on arrival, in full compliance with flight safety regulations, and flight plan.
The startup was founded in 2015, and is currently represented by a Delaware, US corporation Bartini, Inc. Its research and development (R&D) center is based in Zhukovskiy, an aviation engineers’ city on the southern outskirts of Moscow, Russia. The initial funding has come from angel investors; it is part of the Blockchain.aero consortium.
Bartini engineers, advisors, and staff are from the top global civil aircraft design companies and air traffic strategy consultancies. The team of more than 40 people includes specialists in aeronautics, aviation engineering, airspace integration, manufacturing, and urban planning. The company is in collaboration with Italdesign (Turin, Italy) for industrial design and manufacturing.
Bartini Characteristics (updated March 2021):
| Seats | 4 | |
| Width overall | 14.8 ft | 4.5 m |
| Length overall | 17.1 ft | 5.2 m |
| Height overall | 5.6 ft | 1.7 m |
| Range | ~93 miles | 150 km (up to 550 km)* |
| Payload | 882 lb | 400 kg |
| Take-off weight | 2,425 lb | 1,100 kg |
| Max altitude above ground | 3300 ft | 1000 m |
| Cruising speed | ~186 mph | 300 km/h |
| Disc loading | 26.9 lb/ft2 | 146 kg/m2 |
| Battery weight | 705 lb | 320 kg |
| Battery density | 200 Wh/kg (up to 700 Wh/kg)* | |
| Battery capacity | 64 kWh (up to 224 kWh)* | |
| Power output | 320 kW | |
| Thrusters | 8 @ 40 kW each | |
| Energy used per flight | 51 kWh | |
| -- 1 min in hover | 5.3 kWh | |
| -- 30 min in cruise | 45.9 kWh | |
| Reserve energy | 13 kWh | |
| Energy consumption per 1 km | 0.34 kWh | |
| -- per 1 km in cruise | 0.30 kWh/m | |
| -- per 1 min in cruise | 1.5 kWh/min | |
| Flight time | 30 minutes | |
| Lift-to-drag ratio | 4-5 | |
*projected performance with hydrogen fuel cells
Resources:
- Website: https://bartini.aero/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bartini.aero
- Patent application Dec. 4, 2014, granted July 20, 2016: https://www1.fips.ru/fips_servl/fips_servlet?DB=RUPM&DocNumber=163412&TypeFile=html
- Article: Flying cars ready to take to Moscow’s skies, SK.ru, Aug. 3, 2017 https://old.sk.ru/news/b/articles/archive/2017/08/03/flying-cars-ready-to-take-to-moscow_1920_s-skies.aspx
- Video: Bartini Scaled Functional Prototype, McFly.aero, May 5, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO7rVaAav9k
- Article: Russian air taxi prototype passes flight tests https://www.aerospacetestinginternational.com/news/drones-air-taxis/russian-air-taxi-prototype-passes-flight-tests.html Aerospace Testing International, October 30 2018
- Interview: FINN https://www.wearefinn.com/topics/posts/bartini-s-ilya-khanykov-talks-flying-cars-and-collaborating-with-competitors/ January 23, 2019
- Article: Escaping the Traffic https://bartini.aero/upload/pdf/BartiniVTOL.pdf Auto&Design, March 2020
