BLOOMFIELD, Conn., Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LiquidPiston, Inc., the main innovator of environment friendly engine expertise and hybrid energy methods, in the present day introduced a $1.7 million Phase II award from the U.S Army to proceed the event of the corporate’s Hybrid Electric X-EngineTM (HEXE) propulsion system. The Phase II award is a results of profitable completion of a Phase I xTechSearch Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award beforehand introduced. LiquidPiston’s HEXE propulsion system, prototyped and demonstrated on the finish of Phase 1, will ship fuel-efficient energy in addition to superior take-off and inflight capabilities to meet the Army’s Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (FTUAS) Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) objectives, together with compatibility with military-grade heavy fuels equivalent to JP8. The hybrid system adjustments the idea of operation, permitting quiet, electric-only cruise as well as to electric-assist dash and climb modes.
“Reliable and efficient sources of power and energy for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), weapons systems, forward operating bases, and other solutions are critical to protecting the warfighter, enhancing warfighting capability, improving fuel efficiency, and reducing logistical burden and operational costs,” stated Alec Shkolnik, Founder and CEO of LiquidPiston. “Unfortunately, the domestic industrial base for aerospace-grade, highly efficient engine systems is struggling. Today’s diesel engines are too big and heavy to be used in UAVs, and many UAV engines are sourced internationally. LiquidPiston is primed to address these challenges for the DoD and for broader mobility applications with greater power to weight requirements.”
LiquidPiston’s X-EngineTM makes use of the breakthrough thermodynamic ideas of the corporate’s patented High-Efficiency Hybrid CycleTM (HEHC) in a very re-imagined compact rotary engine structure that overcomes the constraints of the standard Wankel rotary engine. The result’s a purpose-designed energy supply for a hybrid-electric propulsion platform the place portability, effectivity, low upkeep and jet gasoline compatibility all work to overcome present vary and payload shortcomings. In explicit, the X-Engine propulsion system can toggle energy between all-electric, engine-only, or a mixture of each – all on demand – whereas having the ability to restart the engine in-air on jet gasoline. The system recharges batteries in flight, in order that the batteries might be sized to present energy vertical takeoff and touchdown in addition to up to half-hour of quiet (electrical) cruise. The HEXE VTOL system permits the Army to launch and land in small areas, and arrange and stow rapidly. Additionally, by combining electrical and engine energy on the principle propeller shaft, the system achieves elevated flight velocity (electric-assist “sprint”) and climb charges in addition to optimized hybrid-electric vary.
LiquidPiston CEO Alec Shkolnik will current on the Hybrid Electric Rotary X-Engine on the Turbine Engine Technology Symposium 2022 (TETS) in Dayton, OH as a part of the Innovative Propulsion Concepts Session at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, September fifteenth.
“One of the Army’s major areas of focus for modernization is Future Vertical Lift (FVL)” stated Zeke Topolosky, Strategic Partnerships Office, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory. “Over the past few years, Army xTech judging panels have repeatedly recognized LiquidPiston’s technological developments in holding great promise for supporting critical Army requirements for FVL modernization. We are pleased to see their efforts advance with this Army Phase II SBIR program.”
LiquidPiston has over 70 patents associated to thermodynamics and superior engine design that may allow a brand new household of engines and mills which are light-weight, compact, extremely environment friendly and moveable. This Phase II contract builds on greater than 10 years of R&D with DARPA, the Army, and trade leaders to enhance the maturity of the X-Engine expertise.
About LiquidPiston: LiquidPiston, Inc., a Bloomfield, Conn-based expertise startup, is main the facility methods trade’s growth of environment friendly, fossil- or renewable fuel-capable combustion engines which are compact – delivering 1.5 HP/lb – and scalable – from one horsepower (HP) to over 1,000. The firm’s patented High Efficiency Hybrid CycleTM (HEHC), along with breakthrough improvements in engine structure, help next-generation fuel-energy conversion options for hybrid energy methods, together with for UAS, cell energy era, and APU purposes.
To study extra, go to www.liquidpiston.com.
Media Contact
Kaitlyn Gartling
CSG for LiquidPiston
[email protected]
A photograph accompanying this announcement is out there at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0abd9423-9d52-4bd4-b623-c7444cce1b41
