Northwest UAV Provides Engines & Components for Unmanned Aircraft

By Mike Ball / 16 Nov 2017
UAV Engines
Follow UST

Northwest UAV, a leading developer of propulsion systems and components for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), has partnered with Unmanned Systems Technology (“UST”) to demonstrate their expertise in this field. The ‘Platinum’ profile highlights the benefits of Northwest UAV’s custom and commercial off-the-shelf engines, components and manufacturing services for unmanned aircraft.

Northwest-UAV NW-44 UAV EngineNorthwest UAV’s purpose-built UAV engines are expertly designed for small, low altitude aircraft that require fuel efficiency and portable power generation. All engines are ready-to-fly with minimal or no modifications required, with a lightweight quiet muffler and multiple generator output configurations available. Engines are available for aircraft weights from 18 to 250kg (40 to 550lbs).

Northwest UAV also provides Rotron Rotary UAV Engines – 4-stroke Wankel cycle rotary engines that are considerably smaller, lighter, and contain fewer moving parts than piston engines of equivalent power output – as well as RCV Rotary Engines, which are 4-stroke single and twin cylinder engines designed for small UAV engine applications in the 1kW to 6kW range.

Custom UAV Engine Test CellEngine test solutions available from Northwest UAV include the Custom UAV Engine Test Cell, a completely self-contained, fully customizable UAV engine test unit housed within a twenty or forty foot container. Containing a single engine test stand, the CETC features sound dampening insulation and can be housed inside or outside your facility. Optional hatches can be provided to accommodate larger airframes.

The Northwest UAV Mobile Engine Test Stand is a customizable platform based around a laptop with LabVIEW DAQ software that can be used to operate, test, develop and record performance data for twin cylinder, single cylinder, and rotary UAV engines.

In addition to propulsion systems, Northwest UAV also provides a wide variety of other UAV components, including:

  • UAV Engine Control Unit (ECU)Generators with state-of-the-art alternators, power electronics, fuel processing techniques and thermal management
  • Engine Control Units (ECUs) for unmanned aircraft of all types with single and multiple cylinder piston and rotary engines
  • UAV mufflers for both single and multiple-cylinder engines
  • Pegasus UAV Servo Actuators for multiple rotary and fixed-wing UAV applications
  • uAvionix Transponders, GPS Receivers and ADS-B Transceivers

Northwest UAV provides a comprehensive range of manufacturing services for unmanned aircraft designers:

  • Rapid Manufacture UAV Cast Pattern MufflerUAV Systems Manufacturing – an AS9100-certified production facility allows production of both COTS products and custom or build-to-print, ready-to-fly UAV engine modules and subsystems
  • Parts Manufacturing – rapid prototyping, additive manufacturing and CNC machining for rapid prototyping and production of any part
  • Engineering – highly skilled experts in the fields of physics and mechanical, electrical and aerospace engineering will streamline the design and validation phases of your products, refining any idea or design to production-ready standard
  • UAV Engine Testing & Diagnostics – utilizing the latest Acoustical & Computational Fluid Dynamics testing technologies to develop, test and fine-tune your design, validating from the component level to complete systems, from research and development stages through to production
  • UAV Engine Maintenance Repair Organization – providing all levels of UAV engine repairs, overhauls, and customized modifications at fast turnaround times
  • Heavy-Fuel Engine Conversions – converting commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) engines for operation using heavy fuels including; JET A, C10, JP5 & JP8

To find out more about Northwest UAV and their UAS engines and other products and services, please visit their profile page.

Posted by Mike Ball Mike Ball is our resident technical editor here at Unmanned Systems Technology. Combining his passion for teaching, advanced engineering and all things unmanned, Mike keeps a watchful eye over everything related to the unmanned technical sector. With over 10 years’ experience in the unmanned field and a degree in engineering, Mike’s been heading up our technical team here for the last 8 years. Connect & Contact