Making light work of heavy fuel

Full throttle. I’m looking forward to the horsepower race next week at the world’s largest gathering for autonomous systems tech. A spectrum of civilian and military applications, especially the mid-range rotary UAV drone platforms (simply put unmanned aerial vehicle or should I say uncrewed helicopters?) demand more power, duration, less vibration – and an all round ability to cope with harsh environments and conditions from sand and snow to seawater and storms. Not much to ask for?

It’s good to see a number of friends squaring up in this increasingly competitive space of propulsion technology for UAVs and it seems that AUVSI XPONENTIAL in Orlando Florida 25 – 28 April will provide the opportunity for serious players to showcase tech innovations.

Sky Power International [Booth 2641] based near Frankfurt, Germany has confirmed that it will be exhibiting two new Wankel engines for UAS (unmanned aerial systems). The SP-360 DRE is a double-blade Wankel engine with up to 51 hp (38 KW) at 6000 RPM, and the SP-540 TRE is a triple-blade Wankel engine that delivers 74 hp (55 KW) at 6000 RPM. In addition, Sky Power will also be showcasing its extensive two-stroke engine portfolio and heavy fuel (HF) engines are also available. It seems they may be learning from the painful Wankel development of the S2 engine for HF by Schiebel. The Austrian-rotary UAV company manufactures its own engines for the ubiquitous CAMCOPTER S-100, and is now fast-becoming the drone of choice by navies worldwide.

Meanwhile, another German player, Hirth Engines [Booth: 1555] (owned by Swiss-Swedish UAV manufacturer UMS SKELDAR) will also showcase its portfolio focused solely on two-stroke, including its pioneering heavy fuel engine liquid cooled 2-stroke 35HF. It will be interesting to see how the distributor and MRO relationship with Oregon-based Northwest UAV [Booth 1629], as a home-grown American business occupying the same technology space is developing, including its own stable of heavy-fuel engines, the latest variant is the NW-230, expected to provide 16-19 hp (rpm/propeller dependent) and 1,500 watts of electrical power at flight idle. They will be canvassing aggressively to prove their credentials to satisfy the DoD’s “Buy America Act.”

Any AUVSI event would not be complete without Bob Schmidt, who runs UAV Propulsion Tech [Booth 1746], located at Tampa, Florida, so only a short hop way from the show, and markets advanced UAV technology including engines manufactured by Swiss-based Suter Industries, in cooperation with Compass Aircraft Europe (CAE) including the Suter 288, a twin-cylinder, horizontal opposed engine, featuring a fuel-saving electronic engine management system. Available for gasoline or heavy fuel, it also powers Shield AI’s ?V-BAT 128 featuring a single-engine ducted fan propulsion design, which eliminates the need for launch and recovery support equipment as well as exposed rotors that are commonly found in propeller-driven VTOLs.

Let battle commence!