Trek Aerospace DuoTrek 1.0 (concept design)

(Image credit: Trek Aerospace)

DuoTrek 1.0 (concept design)
Trek Aerospace, Inc.
Folsom, California, USA
www.trekaero.com

Trek Aerospace, Inc. is a small engineering company based in Folsom, California, USA. Founded on March 18, 1996 as “Millennium Jet, Inc.”, the company changed their name to Trek Aerospace on July 3, 2002 because people thought the company was building jets. To clarify, SoloTrek was a name for certain models of Trek Aerospace's aircraft. SoloTrek was never the name of the company. The company is dedicated to understanding and improving shrouded propeller performance and efficiency. In the process, they developed their own proprietary CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) software, TASPA (Trek Aerospace Shrouded Propeller Analysis).

The company has stated all of their aircraft designs are very flexible when it comes to scalability, electric motors used, propeller types and the type of power source used. That is, all previous conventionally powered aircraft the company has created can be converted to eVTOL aircraft and can be updated with the latest in avionics, electronics, propellers and electric (all batteries or hybrid-electric) power sources. All of the company's aircraft have been designed for advanced air mobility (AAM).

The company has designed and made multiple vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft including its exoskeleton backpack "helicopters" using shrouded propellers in the airframe design. Some articles refer to the exoskeleton backpack helicopter as a jetpack, even though there are no jet engines involved in the backpack aircraft. The company has also designed and made watercraft. Trek Aerospace also assists and teams with other companies, large and small, in the design, fabrication, and licensing of projects involving shrouded propellers and/or autonomous control systems. For example, Trek Aerospace built XTI Aircraft Company's TriFan subscale proof of concept (POC) aircraft.

Trek Aerospace Shrouded Propeller Analysis
Testing at NASA and university wind tunnels has validated the accuracy of the Trek Aerospace Shrouded Propeller Analysis (TASPA). Flight testing of both crewed and uncrewed vehicles has further verified the real-world applications of Trek’s technology. The company states their core technology has the highest specific thrust (lb/kW) in the industry. Aircraft designed by Trek define the efficiency curve used in the UBER Elevate white paper.

This efficiency allows aircraft to carry more weight in a smaller footprint. According to the company, their shrouded propellers require less power, use fewer batteries, have a greater payload and have a farther range than other battery powered aircraft. Furthermore, the company states their shrouded propellers have outperformed similar free propellers to airspeeds in excess of 230 mph (371 km/h), negating much of the drag penalty associated with ducted propellers.

DuoTrek 1.0 passenger hybrid-electric VTOL concept design aircraft
The DuoTrek 1.0 is a two passenger VTOL concept design aircraft. In 2003, the original power source for the aircraft was a conventional rotary engine with gear boxes and mechanical linkages to turn the propellers. In 2011, the company changed the propulsion system on the concept design aircraft to use electric motors and have a hybrid-electric power source. Changing from a conventional power source to a hybrid-electric VTOL power source, the aircraft would become lighter, safer, more stable, more flight worthy, be more reliable, have lower maintenance cost, have a longer service life and be a more eco-friendly aircraft. The original name of the DuoTrek 1.0 was the Air Car.

The concept design aircraft holds two passengers side-by-side, has a canopy over the cockpit, has eight propellers, eight electric motors and had a petroleum powered rotary engine. The engine creates the electricity for the entire aircraft. The aircraft has stub wings, a T-tail and has fixed skid type landing gear. The fuselage is made from carbon fiber composite to give the aircraft a high strength to low weight ratio.

The aircraft could be used for a variety of applications such as personal air transportation, on-demand air taxi service, emergency medical service, government use, military use and more. The aircraft is so small, it could land almost anywhere whether it be on a rooftop heliport, driveway, lawn, ship, boat or a parking lot. 

An important point about this aircraft design is that it was way ahead of its time. The New Atlas article that discusses the DuoTrek 1.0 (the link is listed below) and the article is dated June 20, 2011. The Vertical Flight Society started supporting electric and hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft in 2013. It is unknown whether this aircraft was ever made or will be made into a sub-scale or full scale prototype.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: Passenger hybrid-electric VTOL concept design aircraft
• Piloting: 1 pilot (with side-by-side seating)
• Capacity: 1 passenger
• Cruise speed: 100 mph (160 km/h)
• Maximum speed: 150 mph (240 km/h)
• Range: 218 m (350 km)
• Flight time: 1-1/2 hours
• Empty weight: 675 lb (306 kg)
• Maximum payload weight: 360 lb (163 kg)
• Maximum fuel weight: 142 lb (64 kg)
• Maximum takeoff weight: 1,177 lb (534 kg)
• Propellers: 8 ducted propellers, 42" (1,067 mm)
• Electric Motors: 8 electric motors (20 kW electric motors)
• Power source: In 2003, the concept design originally had a conventional petroleum engine to power the aircraft with gears and mechanical linkages to drive the propellers. However, in 2011, the propulsion system was redesigned and became a hybrid-electric aircraft. It uses a 200 hp engine to create all the electricity for the aircraft and uses electric motors to turn the propellers.
• Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite
• Windows: Canopy over cockpit
• Wings: Stub wings
• Tail: T-tail
• Landing gear: Fixed skid type landing gear
• Safety features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP) uses multiple propellers or electric ducted fans, each powered by electric motors, to increase safety through redundancy. If one or more components fail, the remaining ones can still ensure a safe landing. There are also redundancies of critical components in the sub-systems of the aircraft providing safety through redundancy. Having multiple redundant systems on any aircraft decreases having any single point of failure. The aircraft has a whole aircraft ballistic parachute.

Related Aircraft:

• Trek Aerospace Dragonfly (prototype)
• Trek Aerospace DuoTrek 2.0 (concept design)
• Trek Aerospace Elesi (concept design)
• Trek Aerospace FlyKart 1 (prototype)
• Trek Aerospace FlyKart 2 (prototype)
• Trek Aerospace FlyKart 3 (prototype)
• Trek Aerospace LogDrone (concept design)
• Trek Aerospace Mule (concept design)
• Trek Aerospace Nightingale (concept design)
• Trek Aerospace Nytngale (concept design)
• Trek Aerospace OAV-II (concept design)
• Trek Aerospace OVIWUN (production model)
• Trek Aerospace Scorpion (concept design)
• Trek Aerospace SoloTrek Springtail EFV (prototype)
• Trek Aerospace SoloTrek XFV (prototype)
• Trek Aerospace SoloTrek XFVC (concept design)
• Trek Aerospace SoloTrek XFVM (concept design)
• Trek Aerospace TERN (concept design)
• Trek Aerospace Tyrannos (concept design)

Company Insights:

• Crunchbase

Resources:

• Trek Aerospace website
• Trek Aerospace Twitter
• Trek Aerospace LinkedIn
• Trek Aerospace Wikipedia
• Article: SoloTrek developers planning two seat electric hybrid Air Car, New Atlas, June 20, 2011