ACC Thunder Wasp UAV | Dossier gauges showing engine speeds, torque, temperature and other parameters, as well as the simple ability to send ‘start’, ‘Idle 1’, ‘Idle 2’, ‘Flight’ and other mode commands to the engine. Once landed, we can, for example, select ‘Stop’ and it will automatically engage its own cooling procedures.” Claes adds: “As well as that userfriendliness fitting our philosophy that everything should be simple, its TBO is 1500 hours. That’s really special, especially among smaller turbines, which are too often made for target drones, and therefore way too small and shortlived.” In addition to providing a simplified user experience, the ECU keeps logs of all health and performance parameters, which can be extracted and examined seamlessly for diagnosing any issues that may arise. The underbelly fuel tank can hold up to 310 L of liquid, or roughly 248 kg, despite the entire tank assembly weighing only 6 kg. It divides into six sections, separated by valves to prevent unwanted flow in between. A collector tank also sits within the tank, designed with overpressure to ensure a positive pressure of fuel for delivery to the gas turbine. The system can run on various fuels, including Jet A and A1, although ACC preferentially opts for A1. “We have three fuel pumps: two pump fuel from the large tank below into the collector tank above, and the third pumps fuel directly into the engine’s injector manifold from the catch tank,” Max explains. “The idea is that the two former pumps build up pressure to feed the engine in the event of the third pump getting damaged, and small holes atop the collector tank gradually overflow to eliminate any air bubbles. Another important function of the fuel tank is to always ensure the engine sucks fuel from a full tank, even when doing large flight manoeuvres. To track all of that we have fuel-flow sensors tracking flow into the collector tank and into the engine.” Transmission arrangement From the engine shaft, power is distributed out to the pylons and rotors, such that if a single propeller is grabbed and rotated by hand, the other three rotate in parallel. “The TS100’s output shaft connects to a main transmission shaft, which runs the entire length of the fuselage, and at either end of the main transmission is a claw coupling, which is key to how we’re able to easily remove or reinstall the pylon,” Max explains. “A driven claw coupling inside the pylon mid-section connects to our proprietary, mechanical driveline, which runs through to the rotors – that is a technology that’s going to be used in every ACC UAV in the coming years; we can’t talk in detail about that, however. The rotor systems themselves are somewhat analogous to a helicopter’s tail rotor.” Claes muses: “We can say there’s no gearboxes other than that inside the PBS engine, because transmission PBS Group’s TS100 gas-turbine engine powers the Thunder Wasp GT. It outputs up to 241 bhp at peak, and 214 bhp as maximum continuous power Worried about future requirements of your UAV? VOLZ actuators are the most reliable solution for your application. We‘ll take care of it. VOLZ Servos Reliability for progress volz-servos.com
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