Fuel to Electric Conversion

The purpose of this subtopic is to stimulate near term U.S. entrepreneurship in aircraft systems which convert fuel to on board aircraft electric power for small drones and piloted aircraft. There is a need for additional electrical power on aircraft with minimal impact on the overall weight of the aircraft. The key gap being addressed is for integrated systems which use common aviation fuels and output regulated electrical power with high efficiency and light weight in an aircraft grade system. This is particularly important for small drones and aircraft which are enabled by electric propulsion because it allows fuel to be used instead of batteries which are much heavier. The aircraft level benefits are longer range, longer flight duration and sufficient onboard electric power for electrically actuated control surfaces, electric deicing, advanced sensor systems, and other high power electric subsystems. Demonstration should be conducted at a scale which has a near term path to product introduction in the drone or small aircraft market. The outcome sought at the end of phase II is a fully integrated fuel to electric conversion system prototype with lab test results measuring the total system weight and end to end conversion efficiency. Additionally, a report should be completed documenting the target market, one or more specific customer requirements set and the remaining steps to advance from the prototype to the product. Strong proposals will have several characteristics. One or more identified launch customers with letters of commitment Proposals should support market introduction to the existing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) or the emerging electric and hybrid electric aircraft markets. An indication of what aircraft certification requirements are applicable to the system should be included. Certification requirements including maximum aircraft weight for those markets can be found in Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 107 [1] and Part 23 [2] and the Department of Defense definition of drone categories [3] A clear awareness of additional applicable product, environment or test standards should be shown. This can be simply a list of the standards. Examples are: RTCA DO-160G [4] and MIL-STD-704 [5] A path to Federal Aviation Administration experimental certification by 2030 or earlier must be shown. It is understood that this part of the effort would be beyond Phase II. In phase II the requirements should be mapped to an expected launch customer's need. An initial operational concept which describes the expected operation of the system during the flight segments: takeoff, climb, cruise, decent, landing. Facilities to support development and testing in Phase I and Phase II.