I-Corps: Hydrogen Micro Gas Turbines for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为小型无人机开发基于氢燃料的微型燃气轮机。小型无人机(2-25公斤)已广泛应用于执法、数字农业、火灾监测和预防以及地理空间测绘等各种应用。这些无人机用户往往需要很长的飞行时间才能完成电池供电的小型无人机无法完成的任务。拟议的微型燃气轮机技术可能会将小型无人机的飞行时长从20分钟增加到2小时以上，这可能会显著增加小型无人机在许多应用中的实用性。此外，拟议的微型燃气轮机不需要移动燃料型发电机，从而避免了液体燃料储存带来的火灾危险。此外，微型燃气轮机能够在恶劣的环境中工作，例如在高低温和潮湿地区，那里的电池经常失效。总体而言，正在开发的技术可能会使应用商业化，这些应用将受益于飞行时间更长的无人机或偏远地区的紧凑型发电。这个i-Corps项目是基于微型燃气轮机技术的开发，该技术允许小型无人机用户通过用紧凑型涡轮机混合能源供应系统取代电池来延长飞行耐力。建议的系统已被发现是省油的，重量更轻，并节省维修时间/成本。与最先进的锂聚合物电池相比，拟议的技术可能会使系统重量为1公斤的小型无人机的飞行时间增加4倍。微型燃气发动机采用独特的发动机结构、先进的材料和附加制造技术，以确保可靠的车载发电系统。此外，建议的发动机使用压缩高压氢气作为燃料，具有高能量密度和零碳排放。氢气穿过燃烧室壁后预热，然后与压缩空气混合，通过高温多孔介质以预混燃烧方式燃烧。拟议的微型燃气轮机发动机可能会显著提高小型和便携式动力转换设备的设计和制造技术。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of hydrogen fuel-based micro gas turbines for small drones. Small drones (2-25 kg) have been used widely in various applications, such as law enforcement, digital agriculture, fire monitoring and prevention, and geospatial surveying/mapping. These drone users often require long flight times to address tasks that cannot be completed by battery-powered small drones. The proposed micro gas turbine technology may increase the flight duration of small drones from 20 minutes to over 2 hours, which may significantly increase the practicability of using small drones in many applications. In addition, the proposed micro gas turbines do not require a mobile fuel-based electric generator, which avoids the fire hazard from liquid fuel storage. Furthermore, the micro gas turbine is capable of working in harsh environments, such as at high and low temperatures and in humid areas, where batteries often fail. Overall, the technology under development may enable commercialization of applications that will benefit from longer flying duration drones or compact power generation in remote fields. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a micro gas turbine technology to allow small drone users to extend flight endurance by replacing battery power with a compact turbine-based hybrid energy supply system. The proposed system has been found to be fuel-efficient, lighter, and save service time/cost. The proposed technology may increase the flight time of small drones by a factor of four at 1 kg system weight when compared to the most advanced lithium polymer batteries. The micro gas engine uses a unique engine architecture, advanced materials, and additive manufacturing techniques to ensure a reliable onboard power generation system. In addition, the proposed engine utilizes compressed high-pressure hydrogen as fuel, which has a high energy density and zero carbon emissions. Hydrogen is pre-heated after passing through the combustor wall, then mixed with compressed air and burned in a premixed combustion mode through high-temperature porous media. The proposed micro gas turbine engine may significantly advance design and fabrication technologies in small and portable power conversion devices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.