The strange future of aviation

Floating luggage or battery-powered aircraft are some of the dream ideas of young engineers thinking about the prospect of civil aviation.

The above are the ideas for the final round of the talent competition. Let your dreams fly by the Airbus Group worldwide, with the goal of finding ways to supply energy to aircraft in the direction Environmental friendliness. Each team will present their ideas to the Airbus jury in Toulouse (France) to win the 30,000 euro prize, according to the website www.airbus-fyi.com.

An idea to enter the final round of the competition - (Photo: Airbus)

One of the finalists was Levar in Brazil, with the idea of floating luggage . Applying the principle of air hockey tables, the team suggested installing ultra-light sliding compartments to store luggage, allowing airport staff to transport luggage quickly, easily and more safely. Levar team assured that the new technology will help passengers receive luggage faster than usual by up to 30% of the time. Besides, this technology can be applied inside aircraft to reduce the weight of transport, thereby saving fuel use.

Australia's CLiMA team believes that it should take advantage of the energy released from the belching of . cows. The plan is to create usable fuel and put liquefied methane into a supercooled tube specifically designed to design the engines. According to the Australian team, this solution can reduce CO ₂ emissions by 97%. Meanwhile, the Avas team from India promoted the design of a quieter engine, by adding a shape change to reduce noise. The Avas team explained their plan very simply, just adding special materials that change shape to divert airflow through the engine. Accordingly, materials move and change shape when there is an impact of electric current.

For my part, the Flybrid team suggested hybrid engines, using rechargeable batteries attached to the cabin. This combination can save significant fuel for aircraft. The Italian team reassures that just by adding enough batteries depending on the miles, the weight of the aircraft will decrease in the direction of less energy consumption. According to calculations, Flybrid's solution can save up to 60% of fuel in short flights, while reducing CO2 emissions by up to 40%. Finally, the Malaysian team, Embarker, proposed the idea of ​​using body heat to power the cabin. The Embarker team explained that even in a resting state, the human body is still able to transfer energy to heat-sensitive materials installed in the seats. This heat can be stored and thus utilized to provide electronic equipment on the aircraft, reducing energy during each flight.