Carl Copeland is the founder of Möbius Aero, an electric air race team, and MμZ Motion, a developer of custom, high-performance electric motors. Carl has built various engineering teams and led innovation in the fields of IT, mechanical, magnetic, and electrical design. He has founded four companies and holds over 25 patents, and his most recent innovation, the Field Modulation Motion System, is a novel electric motor design that is significantly lighter and smaller than established electric motors of similar power and torque ratings.
The Field Modulation Motion System achieves its high performance by using 18-phase field modulation rather than the three-phase modulation used in standard motors, essentially emulating six separate three-phase motors attached to a single shaft. Carl is putting his new engine design to the test in a new air racing series for electric aircraft known as Air Race E.
In contrast to typical air racing series, in Air Race E aircraft race against each other on a course rather than flying isolated time trials. In the past, air races have been an invaluable means of developing aerospace technology in a competitive setting and Air Race E is re-awakening the spirit of competition by launching the first fully electric airplane race series. In this episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast, Carl and I talk about:
- his unique and auto-didactic background in engineering
- his goal of finding practical solutions to humanity’s problems
- the Air Race E competition and the origin story of Carl’s racing team Möbius Aero
- the technical details and benefits of his new electric motor
- and the impact this has on airframe development
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Selected Links from the Episode
- Möbius Aero and MμZ Motion webpage
- Möbius YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn
- Carl speaks to Airbus about Team Möbius
- Air Race E webpage
- Talk on Air Race E | Royal Aero Society
- Electric vs combustion engines | Airbus
