Aerospace Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2737

Browse

Filters

2006 - 200912010 - 20171

Settings

Subject: search.filters.subject.Engine

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MINIATURE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE AND ELECTRIC MOTOR FOR UAV PROPULSION
    (2017) Chiclana, Branden; Cadou, Christopher; Aerospace Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This thesis compares the performance of an engine/fuel tank based propulsion system to a motor/battery based propulsion system of equal total mass. The results show that the endurance of the engine/fuel system at the same thrust output is approximately 5 times greater than that of the motor/battery system. This is a direct result of the fact that the specific energy of the fuel is 20 times that of the lithium-polymer batteries used to power the motor. A method is also developed to account for the additional benefits of fuel consumption (and hence weight reduction) over the course of the flight. Accounting for this effect can increase endurance exponentially. Taken together, the results also demonstrate the dramatic performance improvements that are possible simply by replacing motor/battery systems with engine/fuel systems on small unmanned air vehicles.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Performance Measurement, Simulation, and Analysis of the Cox Tee Dee 0.010, the World's Smallest Production Internal Combustion Engine
    (2006-12-15) Sookdeo, Troy; Cadou, Christopher; Aerospace Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The Cox Tee Dee 0.010 is a two-stroke 0.010 cubic inch model engine designed to power small propeller-based hobby aircraft. First manufactured in 1961, it remains the smallest working piston engine ever mass-produced, but no scientific measurements of its performance are available in the open literature. These measurements are important because they could facilitate the development of small unmanned air vehicles. This thesis reports measurements of power output and efficiency using a specialized dynamometer. An unsuccessful attempt is made to correlate the measurements with simulations based on Stanford University's Engine Simulation Program (ESP). Instead, the results are compared to the predictions of a simple zero-dimensional thermodynamic MATLAB simulation of an engine cycle developed at the University of Maryland. Differences and correlations are discussed and the engine performance is analyzed in the context of propulsion systems for small UAVs and for compact power generation.