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Liquid fuel is volatile, but generally does not catch on fire on its own. Batteries can catch on fire if over or under charged. Batteries can catch on fire if p
by csours 8y ago
Liquid fuel is volatile, but generally does not catch on fire on its own. Batteries can catch on fire if over or under charged. Batteries can catch on fire if punctured - liquid fuel can as well, but batteries do not need an external source. This means you need thermal management for your energy source and your power unit.
It's not as applicable for this class of aircraft, but batteries do not get lighter as they are expended.
Liquid fuel provides the same amount of unit energy until it is completely gone; batteries lose power over time, leading to lower horsepower at the end (this is a simplified point of view).
- VectorLock 8y agoAlso you can't shoot batteries out the back of your plane to create thrust like you're doing with liquid fuel.
- AnimalMuppet 8y agoSure you can. Encase them it metal, and use the remaining batteries to power a railgun...
- aeternus 8y agoThe per-unit energy is the biggest issue. It's true that fire is a problem for batteries, but that is manageable with very small sensors and casings. There are many more systems required to deal with the many failure modes of internal combustion engines: - Heating systems to address carburetor icing. Typically manually activated by pilot since they have a performance cost. - Fuel pumps since gravity cannot always be depended upon especially in acrobatic airplanes. - Fuel sump systems which must be checked before every flight to address water in the fuel tanks & lines. - Lubrication systems which require pre-flight fluid level checks. - Magneto system to ensure that sparks can be generated independently from the electrical system. - Redundant magneto system since carbon tends to build up and prevent proper sparking. - Possibility of an engine running rough/cylinder firing out of sync due to carbon or other issues. - Fuel/air mixture control so that the optimal mix can be selected based on altitude. Requires pilot intervention. - Extreme thermal stresses on the engine, requiring engine run-up checks before takeoff. - Radiators, and airflow rediretion to address cooling issues resulting in loss of performance and weight. - Exhaust system, and noise vs. weight tradeoff
- Robotbeat 8y agoIndeed. ICEs only don't catch fire constantly because of a century of safety improvements.
- mannykannot 8y agoOutside of combat, fuel fires are very rarely in the fuel tanks (TWA 800 being a notable exception, and there are ways it could have been avoided), and a for a fire in an engine, the fuel can be cut off and fire extinguishers used. On the other hand, liquid fuel is probably much more dangerous in a crash.