Boom founder Blake Scholl's love for aviation began in childhood. Born in the suburb of Cincinnati, Blake was used to the ups and downs of various commuter machines at home. Flying in the blue sky became his most coveted thing when he was young. In college, Blake started flying his own plane. In 2008, he got his pilot's license. By chance, he saw the world-famous Concorde in the museum. He was instantly moved by the elegant appearance and legendary story of Concorde, and he set himself a new goal in life-to realize the revival of supersonic aircraft in the civil aviation field.
In 20 14, he took an important step to realize his dream-founded Boom Supersonic Company. Blake defines the company's vision as: connecting families, businesses and different cultures around the world in a faster, safer and more sustainable way. Headquartered in Denver, USA, Boom's members have participated in R&D and the manufacturing projects of famous aviation main engine plants such as NASA, Boeing, Airbus, Loma, Norwich and Gulfstream for many times, which has contributed to the emergence of more than 40 new aerospace vehicles. At present, Boom has been supported by many venture capital companies and investors. In addition, Boom also received $6 billion in advance orders from Japan Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.
Boom named its first supersonic airliner Overture, with a maximum design speed of Mach 2.2 (27 15km/h) and a designed passenger capacity of 55 passengers. On June 7, 2020 10, Boom supersonic high-profile launch verification machine XB- 1. XB- 1 Compared with the Overture prototype, it is manufactured by compression according to the ratio of 1:3. The completion of its assembly indicates that Boom has established a platform for testing, developing and demonstrating key technologies for the Overture project, which will accumulate a lot of valuable data for the development and assembly of the Overture model.
Since 1990s, the pattern of the world civil aviation market has not changed significantly. How does Boom Supersonid prevent Overture from repeating the mistakes of the older generation supersonic passenger aircraft?
The upsurge will start from the following three aspects:
Carbon fiber plays a very important role in the overture and the breakthrough design of XB- 1. Subsonic aviation manufacturing has always been a competitive field of aluminum alloy and carbon fiber composites. Carbon fiber is widely used because of its light weight, isotropy and high temperature resistance. In supersonic flight, the high temperature on the fuselage surface is unbearable for aluminum alloy materials, but carbon fiber can meet this challenge well. Boom's design team believes that this is an important reason why Overture can overcome the performance problems of the older generation supersonic aircraft. Supersonic flight requires higher aerodynamics, and carbon fiber layering technology can almost perfectly obtain all kinds of parts with complex shapes. However, aluminum alloy material is limited by machining accuracy, internal stress machining deformation and so on, so it is impossible to obtain accurate part size. In addition, Overture also widely uses new aviation materials such as titanium alloys and superalloys.
In the process of manufacture and assembly of XB- 1, 3D printing technology has played an indispensable role. As early as the design stage of XB- 1, Boom established a long-term cooperative relationship with Stratasys, a well-known 3D printing company. Stratasys F450 and F900 3D printers not only help Boom solve the manufacturing problems of all kinds of parts, but also greatly simplify the manufacturing process of XB- 1 by printing fixtures with various complex configurations.
In addition, Boom also cooperated with VELO3D to print parts. VELO3D has rich experience in printing metal parts. Therefore, the cooperation between the two sides is more focused on the power system, especially the part related to the intake configuration. VELO3D printed titanium alloy parts can not only help XB- 1 control the intake air, but also promote engine cooling. XB- 1 * * is equipped with 2 1 titanium alloy parts, most of which are key parts related to the power system. It was printed by VELO3D's sapphire system.
3D printing technology greatly improves the manufacturing and assembly speed of XB- 1 (it only takes one year to complete the assembly). For traditional parts design, engineers need to use CAD software to design, and then process, test and improve. This process may be repeated many times, and it may take several weeks to complete an iteration. 3D printing technology can be used to simulate printing and assembly, and rapid actual printing production can be carried out after successful simulation. This is impossible for traditional parts design and processing methods.
The consideration of environmental protection and sustainable development has been running through the Overture project. Firstly, Boom Company cooperated with Prometheus Fuel Company to develop new low-carbon fuel; Secondly, Boom and Rolls-Royce are also testing the propulsion system together. In addition to investigating the matching between the existing engine and the prototype, the two sides are also considering cooperating to adjust the aerodynamic characteristics of the Overture prototype and even developing new engines. In addition, Boom attaches great importance to the reuse of raw materials. Carbon neutrality is also an important goal during Overture service.
In the rest of this year, Boom will comprehensively test the aerodynamic characteristics and avionics system of XB- 1, and plans to complete the test flight next year. The successful completion of the XB- 1 verification machine gives Boom the confidence to launch the Overture supersonic prototype in 2025. Boom's ultimate goal is to complete the test certification of FAA and EASA in 2029.
Boom CEO Blake commented on this:
What is the future of supersonic passenger aircraft? Let time give us the answer.