Switzerland-based ABB has partnered with Solar Impulse’s team, Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, to support them in the development of a sun-powered experimental aircraft.
ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer said that this partnership brings together two Swiss-based global companies wanting to push the boundaries of technology.
"We are always challenging the boundaries of what is technologically possible," Spiesshofer said.
Solar Impulse is a single-seat experimental solar-powered aircraft that is powered by 12,000 solar cells across its large wings and rotates four electrical motors. The aircraft weighs as much as an average family car.
The 400kg lithium polymer batteries are charged by motors during the day, enabling the aircraft to continue flight during night.
The aircraft completed its historic maiden transcontinental flight in July 2012, its debut solar international voyage from Paris to Brussels in June 2011 and the 6,000km travel from Europe to North Africa using no fuel launching on 24 May 2012.
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By GlobalDataWith a projected cost of almost £6.5m over a ten-year period, the Solar Impulse project started in 2003 and the team is set to unveil a new aeroplane on 9 April that will begin the round-the-world flight in 2015.
"We both want to motivate people to use clean technologies; ABB and Solar Impulse will work together on key technologies like power electronics for our mutual benefit," Borschberg said.
Image: ABB will support Solar Impulse aircraft project. Photo: courtesy of ABB Ltd.
