Propulsion

Reuben, Garrick, Collin

Piston Engine

• Standard Engine used in small aircraft

• Piston torque and horsepower are decided by bore and stroke

• Generally powers a propeller• Can be found in most

transportation vehicles• Supercharges and Turbos can

be added to increase power output

Radial Engine

• A radial engine has 1 or more rows of cylinders arranged in a circle around the crankcase.

• Every row must have an odd number of cylinders, in order to operate smoothly.

Ethanol Power• The incorporation of Ethanol into the

production of airplane engines is a big breakthrough in the fight for supporting nature and reducing the amount of fossil fuels used in everyday flying. 

• Fagen Inc. has taken Ethanol to a new level. It is now used for high performance stunts in air shows, instead of having low HP.

• For Example: The Ethanol-Powered Fagen MX2 has a whopping 400+ HP and top speed of 275 mph.

Wankle Engine

• Internal Combustion engine; uses a rotary design

• 4 Stroke Cycle• Developed in the 1950’s and

only recently was perfected by Mazda

• Simpler, Lighter, and have less moving parts than piston powered engines of the same power output

Electric Engine

• Uses updraft from the props to store energy

• Able to use solar power to help fly

• Some have a battery for takeoff. After takeoff, it runs completely on solar power.

• Generally glider shaped, for maximum lift with minimum power

Motorjet

• Very inefficient design for an aircraft engine

• Drives a compressor which fires into the jet engine

• Very fuel inefficient and produces less or equal power as a conventional jet engine

Pulse Jet Engine

• Low fuel economy, however, cheap and easy to build.• Not very fast • Pulse jet diagram: First part of the cycle: air flows

through the intake (1), and mixed with fuel (2). Second part: the valve (3) is closed and the ignited fuel-air mix (4) propels the craft.

• Used in a few German planes

Hyper Engine • BMW 803 – one of the

most powerful attempts at a hyper engine.

• 28-Cylinders, 3950 Horsepower

• Crankshaft was too weak, so they used direct connected props.

• HP/LB ratio is about 0.6

Nuclear Engine

• Uses direct cycle jet engines powered by a nuclear reactor

• Soviets were putting in great effort into developing the engine

• Very unsafe, however very powerful if successful