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

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/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）已广泛用于各种应用，例如执法，数字农业，火灾监测和预防以及地理空间测量/测绘。这些无人机用户通常需要较长的飞行时间来处理电池供电的小型无人机无法完成的任务。所提出的微型燃气轮机技术可能会将小型无人机的飞行时间从20分钟增加到2小时以上，这可能会大大提高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，例如在高温和低温以及潮湿地区，电池经常失效。总的来说，正在开发的技术可能使应用商业化，这将受益于更长飞行时间的无人机或偏远地区的紧凑型发电。I-Corps项目基于微型燃气轮机技术的开发，允许小型无人机用户通过使用紧凑型基于涡轮的混合能源供应系统取代电池供电来延长飞行续航时间。该系统具有燃油效率高、重量轻、节省维修时间和成本等优点。与最先进的锂聚合物电池相比，该技术可以在1公斤系统重量下将小型无人机的飞行时间增加四倍。微型燃气发动机采用独特的发动机结构、先进的材料和增材制造技术，以确保可靠的机载发电系统。此外，该发动机采用压缩高压氢气作为燃料，具有高能量密度和零碳排放。氢气通过燃烧室壁进行预热，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。所提出的微型燃气涡轮发动机可以显著推进小型和便携式功率转换装置的设计和制造技术。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.