The development of the rotor blades for the PAL-V Liberty flying car has been completed through a partnership with Royal NLR – Netherlands Aerospace Centre.
According to PAL-V, this achievement is another step closer to the serial production of the FlyDrive vehicle (flying car).
The design of PAL-V’s rotor blades was undertaken by NLR, Netherlands’ leading aerospace research institute. NLR’s extensive experience in aerospace engineering and composite structures has been crucial in refining the design and ensuring it meets the highest standards of performance and safety. The rotor blades are 20% more efficient with less drag compared to equivalent blades, resulting in better performance and fuel economy. Due to the advanced composite technology, a set of two rotor blades only weighs 35.8kg while spanning over almost 11m in length.
PAL-V and NLR have been working closely together to perfect the rotor blades, leading to the current phase where they are ready for mass production. PAL-V has already set-up a small scale assembly location near its headquarters in the Netherlands, where it is preparing for the serial production of the Liberty.
Henri de Vries, Senior Scientist at NLR, said; “We are thrilled to have reached another milestone with our new technology for high-end composite rotor blades.
“Together with PAL-V we’ve overcome technical challenges and ensured our rotor blades are ready for industrial production. Gyroplane rotor blades are brought in motion by the airflow to create lift instead of by using a motor, this is called autorotation. So the PAL-V blades are basically its wings during flight. Next to being lightweight, they contain a mid-hinge to fold the blades and enable driving the vehicle on the road with a convenient vehicle length of just 4 meters. This makes its design unique and unprecedented.”
NLR’s facilities, including wind tunnels, composite manufacturing facilities, structure testing equipment and even a landing strip, have all been used in the R&D and certification testing of various parts and subsystems of the PAL-V Liberty. The partnership with NLR is expected to continue to play a key role as PAL-V approaches the launch of its first production units.
Robert Dingemanse, CEO and Founder of PAL-V, added; “Since its existence PAL-V has been the front-runner in the upcoming advanced air mobility market (AAM), outpacing any player due to its focus on using existing regulations. With the support of numerous suppliers and esteemed partners like NLR, PAL-V now concentrates on finalizing the last stage of air certification, compliance demonstration. With an orderbook filling the first three years of production by a majority of professional customers, as well as private individuals, the PAL-V Liberty will be used to overcome the growing global mobility challenges.”
