Evaluation of Flight Distance

for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

with the AMT 450 Gas Turbine Engine

J. Warren, T. Kwon, P. Castelvecchi, J. Miller, D. Gnugnoli

Mechanical Engineering Department
Virginia Tech
This talk presents our modeling of the system,
testing on a mock-up, and preliminary results

Modeling of
System
Testing of
Mock-Up
Preliminary
Results
0.016

Baseline Response
0.014

Isolation Mount (Elastomer,

K=1116 lb/in)
0.012 Half-Power Cutoff

0.01
Acceleration (volts)

0.008

0.006

0.004

0.002

2
0
Our testing setup consisted of five main parts

Engine
Throttle Control

[Raven, 2001]

Starter System
Measurement
Data Collection System for Fuel
System
3
 160

Miles Flown, x (miles)

The most fuel efficient speed for the
140
120
100
80
60
40

maximum range was 230 ft/s

20 AMT 450
0
50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Velocity, V (ft/s)

160

Miles Flown, x (miles)

140
Fuel Allowed = 75 lbs 120
100
Speed = 230 ft/s 80
60
Fuel Consumed = 74.6 lbs 40
20 AMT 450
0
50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Velocity, V (ft/s)

Reserve 10 min Hover 10 min at

at 100 ft/s 100 ft/s
125 mile range at
= 5.2 lbs fuel 230 ft/s = 5.2 lbs fuel
= 64.2 lbs fuel

4
Composite materials are ideal
for bipolar plates

Advantages
Easy to shape
Light in weight
Resistant to corrosion

Disadvantages
Low conductivity
High cost (at present)

5
In summary, Lissajou patterns and strain gages
measured resonance

Strain gages
Measured: 19.2 Hz
Actual: 21.6 Hz

Lissajou pattern
below above
Measured: 20.8 Hz
resonance at resonance
Actual: 21.6 Hz
resonance

Questions?
6