Advanced Materials for the Design of Lightweight JP5/JP8/DS2 Fueled Engines for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Northwest UAV Propulsion Systems proposes using our purpose built heavy fuel engine designed and built in the USA for small unmanned aerial systems in the tier 2 & 3 class. We will be adding a lightweight ceramic material set combined with FEA (Finite Element Analysis) and heavy fuel atomizer (IRAD Project) to create a lightweight engine for a SUAS or STUAS class UAVs. The Ceramic material set is added to portions of the NWUAV 34cc engine to take advantage of performance enhancements like the ability to retain heat and operate at high temperatures. We propose using materials such as silicon nitride and enhancing the processing characteristics and properties of Si3N4 by using nanoparticle additions to micron-sized powders in polymer suspensions. Work will be performed by Oregon State University with engineering assistance and testing to be performed by NWUAV.