Trek Aerospace OAV-II

OAV-II
Trek Aerospace, Inc.
Folsom, California, USA
www.trekaero.com

Founded in 1999, Trek Aerospace, Inc. is a small engineering company based in Folsom, California, USA. The company has designed and made multiple vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft including its exoskeleton jetpacks using shrouded propellers in the airframe design. The company has also designed and made watercraft. Trek Aerospace also assists companies in the design, fabrication, and licensing of projects involving shrouded propellers and/or autonomous control systems.

The company states their core technology has the highest thrust to hp/kw in the industry. This allows their aircraft to carry a lot of weight in a smaller footprint. Trek’s shrouded props require less power, use fewer batteries than other battery powered aircraft, have a greater payload and have a farther range. The company has stated all their VTOL aircraft designs can be powered with a hybrid-electric power source or using batteries as their main power source (electric vertical takeoff and landing - eVTOL).

The OAV-II is an eVTOL or hybrid-electric VTOL remote or autonomous heavy-lift air cargo drone for commercial and military use. The original cargo drone had a conventional power source with a transmission, drive shafts and gears; however, the efficiency goes up when using electric motors and electric or a hybrid-electric power source. The company has stated this design is very flexible when it comes to its power source and propeller types. The estimated cruise speed of the drone is 175 mph (282 km/h), with a range of 500 miles (805 km) and has an estimated cargo payload of 400 lb (181 kg).

The drone has two tilting ducted fans located at the top of the fuselage and are used for all directions of flight which make the aircraft have excellent maneuvering abilities. The aircraft looks similar to a multicopter design but has a vertical fuselage, not normally seen with multicopters, with fixed skid landing gear.

The OAV-II can be outfitted with lots of sensors such as detect and avoid instruments, cameras, infrared and other sensors needed, depending upon the mission of the aircraft. The aircraft can also hold several types of cargo containers, depending upon the mission of the aircraft. The aircraft can also lift loads using external sling loads. Upon customer request, the aircraft can load or remove its cargo manually, remotely or autonomously.

The aircraft is streamlined and has a small footprint, useful for landing on small vertiports, unprepared landing areas such as a grassy field, on a road or in the back of a pick-up truck. In addition, the small size of the aircraft is very useful for storage in hangars, a garage or tents. The small size of the aircraft also makes the aircraft easy to transport by trucks, ships, helicopters or airplanes.

If the aircraft is ever put in service, the company foresees the aircraft being used for urban air cargo deliveries, rural cargo delivery, agricultural use, commercial logistics and military logistics. In addition, the aircraft could be reconfigured with four ducted fans. While the company has not stated this aircraft will be reinstated into the emerging eVTOL industry, it certainly has the option to do so.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: Hybrid-electric VTOL or eVTOL heavy-lift cargo drone.
• Piloting: Remote or autonomous
• Capacity: Cargo
• Cruise speed: 175 mph (282 km/h)
• Range: 500 miles (805 km)
• Flight Time: Unknown
• Maximum payload: 400 lb (181 kg)
• Propellers: 2 ducted propellers
• Electric Motors: 2 electric motors
• Power source: Hybrid-electric
• Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite
• Landing gear: Fixed skid type landing gear
• Safety features: The aircraft has an emergency whole aircraft ballistic parachute

Resources:

• Trek Aerospace website
• Trek Aerospace Twitter
• Trek Aerospace LinkedIn
• Trek Aerospace Wikipedia