Aerospace Propulsion Outreach Program (APOP)

College of Engineering Unit:

Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering

Project Team Member(s):

Raquel Coburn, Travis Sundseth, JP Miska and Ziyi Jian

Project ID:

AERO.02

Project Description:

The 2022-2023 Aerospace Propulsion Outreach Program (APOP) research activity requires undergraduate students, working as a team, to generate, harness and deliver electrical power derived from the performance of the JetCat P100-RX. In addition, the construction of a digital twin of the engine is recommended to properly assess base engine performance and to inspect changes and their consequences.

The goal with this project is to modify the stock JetCat P100 engine to deliver a minimum amount of DC electrical power while maximizing thrust-to-weight (T/W) ratio. The total system weight will consist of all stock components of the engine and any additions. Hardware used to sink and measure the generated electrical power will not be considered as extra weight. Students will model and test for achievable thrust, providing a baseline for how these modification may affect said parameter. A digital environment in which students may operate in is essential in achieving proper analysis of the engine. Therefore, a model of the engine’s cycles, geometry and overall processes is highly encouraged. The digital twin mentioned acts as an activity for students, baselining data on contrasting solutions towards system modifications.

AFRL will gather data on the stock engine to include weight and thrust. The systems the teams develop must deliver at least 80 watts of power at idle and 500 watts of power at full throttle for at least 2 minutes. During this measurement period the thrust of the engines will be measured to determine an average value, which will be used to calculate the thrust-to-weight ratio.