Welcome to the website of CleanEra, a group of innovators in the field of aerospace engineering from Delft University of Technology. CleanEra pursues its dream of creating a green future for aviation. This dream is made reality by using contemporary designs to build a family of sustainable aircraft, the Zeft family. The first family-member to demonstrate CleanEra’s inventive technology, will be a UAV demonstrator called Zesar.

Windtunnel tests #2

After almost 2 weeks of testing we are now nearing the final phase of the verification of our model. In these 2 weeks we have tested among others varying wind speeds, the effectiveness of the control surfaces and the influence of the landing gear on the whole. To make things better visual and more spectacular, we also managed to get pictures of the model covered with oil that reflects very nice and green when hit by UV-light. At the end, we also managed to refurnish our windtunnel section in such a way that it was possible to do measurements on the side-slip angles of our model, a sight that had not been seen here at the Windtunnel Lab for some 25 years.

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ZESAR in Aviation Week ShowNews

At this very moment, our project ZESAR is featured at the International Airshow at Farnborough, London. During this event, a showmodel of our Blended Wing Body is shown, along with a video showing our progress and current status of the project. During the airshow, people from CleanEra, among which our project leader, will be present to provide up to date information to everybody showing interest in our project. Complementing this real-life information is an article about us featured in Aviation Week ShowNews, in their special Farnborough edition:

“The Flying (Eco)Dutchman”

Building the first silent, manned aircraft with zero emissions is a worthy and challenging ambition being pursued by CleanEra in the Netherlands. This group of innovative aerospace engineers from Delft University of Technology dreams of a green future for aviation through its ZEFT “blended wing-body” project. As the airshow begins, CleanEra is in the middle of its first ZEFT family-member model’s two-week wind tunnel test program. Meanwhile, a prototype of its first flying testbed, called X-1 ZESAR, is being fabricated as an unmanned vehicle with a 1.80-meter span. Constructed of carbon fiber, this prototype is projected to fly next month. A model can be seen at Netherlands Aerospace Group stand H3/C2.

The team’s goal is to design an aircraft that surpasses the requirements set forth in the EU’s Vision 2020 specification. It aims for a 50% or more decrease of CO2 and an 80% or more decrease of NOx emissions, plus a 50%-plus decrease in perceived noise.After ZESAR will come a half-scale model named ZEFT X-2, followed by full-scale X-3, which will be piloted. Aiming high, CleanEra envisages the ultimate employment of its research as a passenger airliner that flies silently, more efficiently and without emissions. Anthony Fokker was the first Dutchman to sweep the skies; His successors at Delft intend to be the first to clean them.” – Paul Jackson, Aviation Week ShowNews, 19 July, 2010

Windtunnel tests #1

As from Monday July 12th, we are officially in the Low-speed Low-Turbulence Windtunnel of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering to test the ZESAR. For the upcoming 2 weeks we will be fully running tests in the windtunnel facilities of our university to verify all our findings of the past year. We will be making a lot of pictures and videos of our testing, be sure to expect more material on this in the near future.

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Team ZESAR wins €2000 on E.ON Teamworkprize

We are very proud to announce our team won €2000 on the E.ON Teamworkprize. On May 26th we gave a 5-minute presentation about our project which resulted in a second prize on the award ceremonies committed by the University Fund Delft. During this presentation we were also able to show the progress of our windtunnelmodel, which looked both beautiful and promising according to the jury and audience.

After the ceremony, several members of the jury declared their faith and admiration for the project and showed a lot of interest for ZESAR. It was simply due to the fact that our team faced too few setbacks, misfortune and misery to be awarded this year. The winning team simply needed the money more than us to alleviate their collective pain. However, we congratulate them sincerely with the result. Next year, we will be back, and we will make sure that we bring an astonishing cocktail of dreadful disasters and screaming success to take home that first prize!

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Windtunnel model nearly finished

The workshop has been working hard and the wintunnel model is nearing its completion. The bottom centerbody is finished and the top part is almost done. At the end of next week the ailerons will arrive and the variable pitch system will be ready to be tested. Also work is still going on the propellers, we are getting better results every time.

Below are some pictures from the milling of the bottom centerbody part.

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Moulds are designed and sent to Dutch-Shape

This week the moulds have been designed and were sent to Dutch-Shape, to be milled out of solid aluminum. The aluminum is sponsored by AmEuro Metals, a company specialized in the delivery of small quantities of high quality metals.

The aluminum has yet to be made for these moulds, it will be finished in about two weeks. After this, the aluminum is sent to Dutch-Shape to be milled into our desired mold parts.

AmEuro Metals is delivering around 1200 kilo’s of aluminum and Dutch-Shape will mill it down to moulds that weigh around 77 kilo’s. This means that around 93.5 percent of the aluminum has to be milled off.

An impression of the moulds, as drawn in Catia, is presented below.

Nominated for the UfD E.On Teamworkprize

In the past month, team ZESAR sent a submission to the University Fund Delft (UfD) to participate in the yearly UfD E.On Teamworkprize. This is an award for student teams from the TU Delft that contribute to the education or functioning of the university regarding the entire university community. The Teamworkprize comprises a finale where there is a prize of €10.000,- for the winning team, along with a certificate and a trophy. Besides this, 3 other finalists are awarded an encouragement prize of €2.000,-. We are happy to inform you that team ZESAR is one of the 4 finalists of 2010, and on the 26th of May the finale will take place at the Aula of TU Delft. We will be there, we will shine, and we will take the €10.000,- home!

Propulsion system

In the last few weeks more and more parts of the propulsion system came in at our office. At first, the rolling bearings sponsored by Schaeffler Nederland B.V. arrived, so after the workshop finished the propeller shafts and small gearboxes for the wings, assembly of these parts could start. Because the gears themselves were already in the house, the part of the propulsion system incorporated in the wing could be finished up to the variable pitch unit. When this part comes out of the workshop the propellers can be attached and then the Hacker motors can be connected to drive the system. So the first test run of the propulsion system is close at hand.


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The elevator

The wings are finished, up to the point the ailerons can be fitted in. Now work can begin on the elevator since the ailerons are created elsewhere. The elevator is the control surface which increases or decreases lift on the centerbody. This allows the airplane to pitch up and down, hence making it controllable in the vertical direction.

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CleanEra Airliner model presented at Schiphol

On March 25th the TU Delft and Netherlands Aerospace Group have presented the airliner concept from CleanEra. The model was made by Helicopter- & Vliegtuigservice Omega in a short time span of several weeks. At the press conference, which was held in Hangar 3 of Schiphol airport, our model for the World Expo 2010 was presented to the national press. Next step is shipping the model to Shanghai where it will be exposed in the Dutch Pavillion, also known as “Happy Street”.

Articles about the presentation are shown in the section “In the press“, to be found under the Media tab on this site. Among them are an item on the NOS Journaal and an article on Luchtvaartnieuws. The item which was shown in the Dutch news show Eén Vandaag is shown here.