NovPower develops and manufactures highly reliable electric propulsion systems for light aviation. Their ambition is to enable low-cost flights while increasing safety and reducing the carbon footprint.

The development of electric propulsion has been limited up to now primarily due to the performance of batteries. Batteries have significantly progressed in the past few years thanks to automotive industry, and will continue to improve in terms of energy density, safety and cost. The autonomy of electric aircrafts is already sufficient to enable flights of more than one hour, and autonomy will continue to improve offering pilots a wide range of use from training to cross country flights. The acceptance of electric propulsion systems should be facilitated by low operating costs and by a significant reduction of aircraft noise.

NovPower is developing a complete and optimized electric propulsion system, with an architecture that aims to eliminate the risk of engine failure. The systems will be subject to monitoring of operating parameters in order to further improve reliability. For that purpose, NovPower will use the control and monitoring platform C2MON, a software developed by CERN and currently used for the monitoring of its equipment.

“The knowledge transfer with CERN on C2MON will enable us to set rapidly the tools that we need in terms of monitoring of our systems. Monitoring and analysis of data will facilitate the early detection of potential failures and will provide useful information to optimize the various components of the electric propulsion system to better respond to the needs of pilots. The ultimate objective is to shift from preventive maintenance, as performed currently in light aviation, to predictive maintenance.”

Bernard Riou, founder and CEO of NovPower

NovPower joined InnoGex, the French Business Incubation Centre (BIC) of CERN Technologies in early 2020.