Drone-maker Fusionflight has announced an 8-kW microturbine generator that weighs less than one-tenth of what an equivalent petrol generator would, and it's the size of a toolbox instead of needing its own wheels – if you can handle the epic noise levels. Contact online >>
Drone-maker Fusionflight has announced an 8-kW microturbine generator that weighs less than one-tenth of what an equivalent petrol generator would, and it''s the size of a toolbox instead of needing its own wheels – if you can handle the epic noise levels.
This company is best known for its JetQuad UAVs – ultra-fast VTOL drones using thrust-vectored jet turbine propulsion to act like quadcopters on steroids. Their performance levels are absolutely epic compared against electric quadcopters, with theoretical top speeds over 400 mph (644 km/h), much like Mayman Aerospace''s turbine-powered Speeder flying motorcycle design.
They''re amazing little power units, running on diesel, kerosene or jet fuel, with 5 percent turbo oil mixed in. And Fusionflight has taken advantage of their extreme power density to create an ultra-portable generator that packs an 8-kW punch. The ARC microturbine generator measures about 17 x 27 x 52 cm (6.7 x 10.6 x 20.5 inches) and weighs just under 9 kg (19.8 lb). For reference, a petrol-powered machine like the Gensafe GF8000 weighs 107 kg (236 lb) and uses a 459 cc engine, although to be fair it''s got an inverter built in as well, where the ARC microturbine requires you to buy one separately.
Fusionflight says it''s powerful enough to run an off-grid home with, light enough to mount as a range extender to small electric aircraft and drones, and it offers a way to charge up an electric car where no plug-in options are available. Mind you, it won''t charge the battery back up as fast as your EV drains it on the highway – by our math, the Tesla Model 3 uses around about a constant 15.6 kW at 90 km/h (56 mph), rising to around 21.6 kW at 120 km/h (75 mph).
Fusionflight doesn''t give any figures for noise, nor indeed does JetCat, a leading supplier of these kinds of microturbines. But I''ve stood behind David Mayman as he lifted off wearing a jetpack powered by similar turbines, and the noise split the sky right across Sydney Harbour. One noise evaluation study on an older JetCat P80 turbine measured 116.5 decibels – louder than a chainsaw, a jackhammer, or a typical rock concert.
To be fair, turbine noise is typically high-pitched, it can be quite directional, and it can drop off quicker with distance than lower-frequency vibrations like your typical thrumming petrol generator. And Fusionfight has surely put some thought into noise reduction on this thing, so we wouldn''t imagine it''d be as loud as the P80 in that study.
But it''s still a 130,000 rpm turbine, and if the video below is a good indication, this is not a machine to switch on when the baby''s sleeping – even if the noise is kinda awesome. Skip to 3:30 to hear it being switched on and throttled up to 50 percent. No pricing is available as yet, but these turbines are not cheap, so you can probably expect to pay a fair old premium for the extreme reduction in size and weight that the ARC delivers.
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Microhydropower can be one of the most simple and consistent forms or renewable energy on your property.
If you have water flowing through your property, you might consider building a small hydropower system to generate electricity. Microhydropower systems usually generate up to 100 kilowatts of electricity. Most of the hydropower systems used by homeowners and small business owners, including farmers and ranchers, would qualify as microhydropower systems. But a 10-kilowatt microhydropower system generally can provide enough power for a large home, a small resort, or a hobby farm.
A microhydropower system needs a turbine, pump, or waterwheel to transform the energy of flowing water into rotational energy, which is converted into electricity.
Our page onplanning a microhydropower systemhas more information.
Run-of-the-river microhydropower systems consist of these basic components:
Commercially available turbines and generators are usually sold as a package. Do-it-yourself systems require careful matching of a generator with the turbine horsepower and speed.
Many systems also use an inverter to convert the low-voltage direct current (DC) electricity produced by the system into 120 or 240 volts of alternating current (AC) electricity. (Alternatively, you can buy household appliances that run on DC electricity.)
Whether a microhydropower system will be grid-connected or stand-alone will determine many of its balance of system components.
For example, some stand-alone systems use batteries to store the electricity generated by the system. However, because hydropower resources tend to be more seasonal in nature than wind or solar resources, batteries may not always be practical for microhydropower systems. If you do use batteries, they should be located as close to the turbine as possible because it is difficult to transmit low-voltage power over long distances.
Reaction turbines, which are highly efficient, depend on pressure rather than velocity to produce energy. All blades of the reaction turbine maintain constant contact with the water. These turbines are often used in large-scale hydropower sites.
Because of their complexity and high cost, reaction turbines aren''t usually used for microhydropower projects. An exception is the propeller turbine, which comes in many different designs and works much like a boat''s propeller.
Propeller turbines have three to six usually fixed blades set at different angles aligned on the runner. The bulb, tubular, and Kaplan tubular are variations of the propeller turbine. The Kaplan turbine, which is a highly adaptable propeller system, can be used for microhydro sites.
Conventional pumpscan be used as substitutes for hydraulic turbines. When the action of a pump is reversed, it operates like a turbine. Since pumps are mass produced, you''ll find them more readily than turbines. Pumps are also less expensive. For adequate pump performance, however, your microhydropower site must have fairly constant head and flow. Pumps are also less efficient and more prone to damage.
The waterwheelis the oldest hydropower system component. Waterwheels are still available, but they aren''t very practical for generating electricity because of their slow speed and bulky structure.
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The ARC micro turbine generator is ultra-compact – the entire device is the size of an ordinary toolbox and weighs just over 10kg. The ARC can be easily carried by hand, and we ship the unit fully assembled, ready-to-play out of the box. The customer need only connect the ARC to an existing fuel tank or FusionFlight can provide a custom fuel tank solution.
Connect multiple units in parallel to provide more power thanks to the "block-like" form-factor of the ARC unit. Upon request, FusionFlight can customize the exhaust and inlet systems to accommodate a variety of applications. Customers can take advantage of flexible mount locations to install the ARC unit wherever it is needed.
The microturbine at the heart of the ARC consumes variety of heavy-fuel (Diesel, Kerosene, Jet-A). The ARC also contains its own start-up battery and re-charge circuitry, so it never needs to be plugged into the grid. The controller inside the unit is compatible with Arduino which allows our clients to easily reprogram the system to accommodate a variety of integrations.
Large diesel engines and turbines require a significant burst of power to start. ARC is an ideal lightweight solution as a start-up power generator. Such a device is commonly found on large vehicles and referred to as an APU (Auxiliary Power Unit).
Large lithium batteries weigh a lot and take a while to re-charge. ARC provides a compact solution for re-charging batteries on the go, whether the batteries are mounted on a robot, a ground vehicle, or a sea-vessel. ARC is in essence a diesel range extender.
Natural disasters often strike hard and cause major interruptions to the electrical grid. When emergency power is needed but logistics prevent large equipment from being delivered, ARC comes to the rescue. A single person can easily carry two ARC units, one in each hand.
ARC has a unique application for hybrid-electrical drones. A stripped-down version of the ARC only weighs 8kg and may be easily integrated with most platforms. In addition to the 8kW of electrical power, the turbine generator produces 37N of thrust from the exhaust ports, providing the aircraft with bonus lift.
Some disregard the ARC micro turbine generator as a fuel-thirsty system with no applications in modern aerospace. At first glance, this may seem true as the ARC generator has an overall fuel-to-electricity conversion efficiency of just 5%. However, it''s incredibly small mass more than compensates for this lack in efficiency. The resulting system is still capable of doubling the endurance of a given electrical aircraft. This can be shown with some basic math:
The specific energy density of a state-of-art Lithium Polymer battery is 0.75MJ/kg. The specific energy density of diesel fuel, on the other hand, is 44MJ/kg. Combining diesel fuel with the ARC generator provides an overall specific energy density of 44*0.05 = 2.2MJ/kg, more than double than that of the battery.
Now, one can argue that the mass of the fuel tank and ARC generator will diminish this result. Continuing with the previous example, let''s take a look at a standard 93Ah LiPo battery which weighs 23kg. Five gallons of diesel weigh 16kg, and the plastic tank, about 1kg. The ARC micro generator weighs 10kg, but the thrust output of 40N offsets its weight by 4kg. Hence, the overall weight of a 5-gallon fuel system (including generator) is 16+1+10-4=23kg, same as the 93Ah battery. The electrical energy content of the battery is 17MJ while the hybrid system is 35MJ. This means that after the hybrid upgrade, the given aircraft suffers no mass penalty while receiving a two-fold increase in endurance.
Whichever way you look at it, the numbers don''t lie – if you want to boost the endurance of an electrical VTOL aircraft, be it drone or air-taxi, going the hybrid route with the ARC turbogenerator is the way to go!
At the heart of the ARC generator is the microturbine – a miniature jet-engine the size of a "soda can" that spins at rates up to 140,000RPM. A high-precision, fuel cooled gearbox takes power from a secondary turbine wheel and reduces this RPM further to 10,000RPM maximum. The device contains a highly efficient dual exhaust system that generates an additional 37N of thrust at full power.
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