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Engineering Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2012

Air Force Institute of Technology

Drone aircraft

Aerospace Engineering

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Increasing Reliability Of A Small 2-Stroke Internal Combustion Engine For Dynamically Changing Attitudes, Steven C. Crosbie Mar 2012

Increasing Reliability Of A Small 2-Stroke Internal Combustion Engine For Dynamically Changing Attitudes, Steven C. Crosbie

Theses and Dissertations

Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) typically utilize commercial internal combustion engines (ICE) as their power sources. These engines are designed to run at sea level, but these aircraft are often pressed into service at higher altitudes where the performance characteristics deteriorate. A Brison 95cc two-stroke engine's performance characteristics at altitude are investigated using a test facility that can measure these characteristics over a range of pressures and temperatures. With its stock carburetor at sea level static (SLS) conditions, the engine makes 5.5 peak horsepower (hp) and brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) ranged from 1.2-4.0 lb/(hp-hr). At 10,000 feet conditions, the peak …


Integration, Testing And Validation, Of A Small Hybrid-Electric Remotely-Piloted Aircraft, Joseph K. Ausserer Mar 2012

Integration, Testing And Validation, Of A Small Hybrid-Electric Remotely-Piloted Aircraft, Joseph K. Ausserer

Theses and Dissertations

Parallel hybrid-electric technology offers a wide variety of new mission capabilities including low-observable loiter operations and increased fuel efficiency for small remotely-piloted aircraft. This research focused on the integration, validation, and testing of a hybrid-electric propulsion system consisting of commercially available components to fabricate a small remotely-piloted aircraft capable of extended low-observable operation. Three novel aspects contributed to the success of the design: optimization of the propulsive components to the integrated system, torque control of the components for additive power, and a one-way bearing/ pulley mechanism (patent pending) mechanically linking the hybrid system components. To the knowledge of the author …