Young engineers take to the skies

Engineering

University of Adelaide engineering students are spreading their wings in one of the fastest growing areas of the international aerospace industry.

Three teams of final-year engineering students in the School of Mechanical Engineering are developing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology.

The teams have designed and built three unique UAVs: one powered by a hydrogen fuel cell; one powered by pulsejet technology; and a third with hovering capability.

Under the supervision of Dr Maziar Arjomandi, the projects are all directed towards the development of efficient, sustainable technologies in the aerospace industry.

A group of five Aerospace Engineering students has developed the first Australian-designed and manufactured hydrogen fuel cell-powered tailless UAV.

Team member Rebecca Baylis said hydrogen fuel cells offered a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels.

"While the automotive industry has promoted hydrogen fuel cells as an alternative power source, little has been done to adapt this technology for aeronautical applications, within Australia or worldwide," said Rebecca.

"Fuel cell UAVs can offer increased vehicle endurance compared to a fossil fuel burning alternative - making them ideal for long endurance flight missions such as surveillance and reconnaissance applications."

Another six final-year engineering students (three Aerospace and three Mechanical) have developed a UAV powered by pulsejet technology - the first of its kind in Australia.

Team member Ryan Anderson said pulsejets had key advantages over other forms of propulsion, including extremely quick and inexpensive manufacture and high levels of reliability attributed to the lack of moving parts within the engine itself.

"As such, pulsejet powered UAVs are highly suitable as target drones and decoy aircraft, among other applications," said Ryan.

The pulsejet UAV can run on renewable fuels such as bio-diesel and ethanol.

The third team of five Aerospace and two Mechatronic Engineering students has designed and built a UAV incorporating semi-ducted coaxial counter-rotating rotor technology - another first for Australia.

"This project has the potential to expand the applications and usefulness of UAVs through the provision of efficient hovering functionality, while at the same time being safe enough for use at ground level," said team member Stephen Bell.

"This is a helicopter in basic design, but has significant packaging and efficiency gains as it does not need a tail rotor in order to maintain stability.

"Its unique ability to hold position while in close proximity to buildings gives this vehicle capabilities that fixed wing UAVs can't match. This will prove beneficial to both civilian and military operators."

Conducting final-year projects is part of the curriculum within the School of Mechanical Engineering. The projects allow the students to develop teamwork skills and the capacity for life-long learning.

The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles will go on public display this month along with dozens of other dynamic projects developed by students from the University of Adelaide's School of Mechanical Engineering (see facing page for details).

Story by Robyn Mills