Airplanes are heavy things. Heavy things that need to get, and stay, in the air consume a whole lot of fuel–airlines spend upwards of $20,000/yr or more to fly a pound of weight around. For years, there’s been slow, steady progress in replacing these air structures’ metallic bodies with lightweight materials–typically carbon fiber composites. Most of us know carbon fiber from tennis rackets, golf clubs and skis, which help us conserve and optimize our human energy in the sports we play. So it is in air and space, except the energy saved is $5 (and rising) fuel.
More than half of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner airframe is made of carbon fiber and other composites, displacing heavier metals, saving 20% of the fuel costs. A flight from NY to LA on the Dreamliner can save 20% of its $40K fuel cost compared to non-composite air frames.
Having made progress in addressing the biggest weight component, what’s left for aviation companies like Boeing and Airbus? Well, turns out that there’s some 8,000-10,000 pounds of wire and cable–about 90% power cables, 10% data cables (much from in-flight entertainment systems–on airplanes. At $20,000/pound of weight, those copper wires cost the industry some $20 million per year to tote around. Until recently, there wasn’t much anyone could do about copper weight–no real viable conductive alternatives copper without the associated weight.
So, what’s in a data cable? Strip off the plastic (polymer) exterior and you’ll find a core conductor (wire) made of copper wrapped with an electro-magnetic interference (EMI) metallic tape. Nanocomp–the world’s first and only producer of sheets, tapes, wires and yarns made of carbon nanotubes (CNT), produces both an all CNT core conductor and an all CNT EMI shielding wrap (see photo below)
At the 2012 International Wire and Cable show, Stephanie Harvey at Tyco Electronics presented results (http://www.slideshare.net/mgurau/cn-tas-conductor11142012) of a test that included the world’s first functioning data cable made of all carbon conductor and shielding–data cables that are 70% lighter than its copper equivalent saving $14,000,000 of fuel ($20,000/pound * 1,000 pounds * 70% weight savings) per year.
The aviation industry is one of the biggest contributors to CO2–A pound of weight in air translates to 20 pounds of CO2. So that 700 pounds of weight saved per plane translates to 14,000 pounds of avoided CO2 per year per plane. One day soon, Nanocomp will produce all carbon power cables and be in a position to help the aviation industry save nearly $120,000,000 in fuel per year and as much as 140,000 pounds of avoided CO2 pollution per year. Over the twenty year life of a plane, that’s $2.4B in saved fuel and 2.8M pounds of avoided CO2. Not a bad for carbon string and tape…
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