RE: UAV Engines?
Hey guys,
First off, thanks for the great replies already! I've had a chance know to do a bit more research and understand this whole area a little bit more. Quite a few of you seem very technically able so i've got a few specs below that you might be interested in;
The following message is taken from a communication between myself and a prospective engine manufacturer so take it with a pinch of salt;
The weight of the aircraft will be less than 300lb (136kg), more than likely nearer the 175 to 225lb range (80-100kg).
The most critical specification requirements appear to be;
Ability to perform a 6 degree per second turn at 1700 and 3000ft.
Ability to dash at 70kts (36m/s) at 1700 and 3000ft.
The design cruise speed will be 50kts (26m/s)
Although the final aircraft and engine configuration has not been finalised it is likely to be a fixed wing conventional configuration;
• Thrust to weight of whole aircraft of 0.2 to 0.4 (N/(kg*g)). This equates to a thrust range of 157 to 393N. Obviously converting this to the more appropriate horsepower depends on quite a few factors that are probably best left to you.
• Wing loading will be in the range of 140 to 300 Pa which will result in a wing area in the range 3 to 7m2 and a wing span in the range 5.6 to 9m.
It would be useful to know the possibilities of having either one, two or three engines, i.e, single nose mounted engine, two wing mounted engines or two wing mounted engines with a single nose mounted engine. Also if you have any comments or suggestions on pusher configurations, it would be gratefully received.
• A further requirement that may be a problem is that we are looking at a range of 15nm and an endurance of 8hrs. Reliability is a very important part of our design so if you have any values for typical failure rates etc., that would be very useful.
• It would also be advantageous to be able to provide DC power via a generator/alternator from the engine(s) to our payload. The typical requirement will be in the range of 10W at 12V DC.
• I know very little about the types of engines you supply but any information on the possibility of using different fuel grades or pre-mixing techniques would be very useful. The possibility of using JP8 as a fuel would be an advantage. SFC or TSFC values would be useful.
• If you have figures for noise levels with and without mufflers (at 200 ft if possible) it would be very useful for our choice of engine.
• We have very tight schedules so if you have any CAD models or other miscellaneous information that you feel would be useful please forward this information.
• Finally, typical availability/lead times for the engines and typical delivery times would be useful as we hope to purchase suitable engine(s) relatively quickly.
Sorry if this seems like a bit like information overload but I felt it was better to give too much information than not enough. If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact me any time.
Thank you in advance for you help.
With thanks,
Daniel Jones
Any comments on the above q's would be great. I know its a massive area