Investigation of a Piston Engine and Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Combined Hybrid Modular Power Plant for Unmanned Aerial Systems Syracuse University

Format:

Book

Conference/Event

Author/Creator:

Metcalf, Alexander, author.

Contributor:

Ahn, Jeongmin

Welles, Thomas

Conference Name:

SAE WCX Digital Summit (2021-04-13 : Live Online, Pennsylvania, United States)

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource cm

Place of Publication:

Warrendale, PA SAE International 2021

Summary:

This work investigates a hybrid powertrain composed of an internal combustion engine and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) for use in unmanned aerial systems (UAS). UAS' have been met with increasing demand in the large-scale agricultural industry for crop management and water resource visual inspection, and in militarized applications for safer, unmanned reconnaissance missions. However, usage of traditional lithium polymer batteries has limited the flight time of UAS', thereby restricting their widespread implementation. A hybrid powertrain utilizing energy dense liquid fuel provides the capability of powering UAS' for longer duration missions. This hybrid powertrain consists of a small internal combustion engine that acts as a partial oxidation fuel reformer, simultaneously producing mechanical shaft power and high temperature syngas. The 0.3 in3 piston engine is a typical air cooled, glow engine utilizing a 60/40 percent (by volume) mixture of methanol and nitromethane, respectively. The syngas generated by the combustion engine can then be utilized by a tubular SOFC stack to generate electrical energy for the UAS flight systems. A SOFC operating within the combustion exhaust from the engine produced a maximum of ~700 mW/cm2, while the engine was continually producing ~750 W of mechanical shaft power. In case of an engine failure, the liquid fuel may bypass the engine and be directly utilized by the SOFC system to maintain power generation. Additionally, the engine may be manually shutdown to provide silent onboard power generation. In testing, a tubular SOFC provided with direct liquid 60/40 methanol/nitromethane fuel was capable of producing over 300 mW/cm2, without prior fuel reforming. The power produced by the proposed hybrid powertrain is expected to be sufficient to power a 15 kg UAS for long endurance missions; thus extending flight times 5X-10X beyond those capable with current battery technology

Notes:

Vendor supplied data

Publisher Number:

2021-01-0220

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license