MINIATURE BRUSHLESS ALTERNATORS

A BRUSHLESS ALTERNATOR USING VERY HIGH ENERGY PRODUCT PERMANENT MAGNETS WILL BE COMBINED WITH HIGH EFFICIENCY SOLID-STATE VOLTAGE CONVERSION TECHNOLOGY TO DEMONSTRATE PRECISE ELECTRICAL POWER GENERATION FOR ELECTRONICS ONBOARD MINIATURE AIRCRAFT. PHASE I WILL INCLUDE DESIGN OPTIMIZATION, FABRICATION, AND TESTING OF A PROTOTYPE ALTERNATOR, CONCLUDING WITH A DEMONSTRATION OF THE PROTOTYPE DRIVEN BY A 1.5 HP, JP-8 FUELED ENGINE DEVELOPED BY FOSTER-MILLER. THE PHASE I EFFORT WILL TARGET THE MORE DIFFICULT, LOW POWER END OF THE RANGE OF INTEREST: A LOW POWER OUTPUT WITH 84 PERCENT ALTERNATOR EFFICIENCY FROM 0.16 LB OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WEIGHT. PRECISE VOLTAGE REGULATION WILL BE OBTAINED USING TECHNOLOGY DERIVED FROM COMPUTER POWER CONDITIONING MODULES AVAILABLE FOR APPLICATIONS RANGING FROM JUST A FEW WATTS TO OVER A KILOWATT. FOR THE LOW APPLICATION, A LONG-TERM GOAL OF 87 PERCENT REGULATION EFFICIENCY IS ANTICIPATED WITH A SOLID-STATE REGULATOR WEIGHT BELOW 0.10 LB, DELIVERING STABLE, HIGH QUALITY DC ELECTRIC POWER INDEPENDENT OF ENGINE SPEED. FOSTER-MILLER WILL DESIGN, BUILD, AND TEST THE ALTERNATOR AND ELECTRONICS. THE ELECTROMAGNETIC DESIGN WILL BE PERFORMED BY OUR CONSULTANT, ANDREW DRUZSBA, AN ENGINEER WITH THE AIRESEARCH DIVISION OF ALLIED-SIGNAL, WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED MOTORS AND GENERATORS FOR THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY SINCE 1973. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - THE TECHNOLOGY RESULTING FROM THE PROPOSED PROGRAM WILL RESULT IN A FAMILY OF ADVANCED, LIGHTWEIGHT GENERATORS FOR MINIATURE AIRCRAFT. THIS TECHNOLOGY WOULD BE EQUALLY APPLICABLE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIGHTWEIGHT, EFFICIENT PROTABLE GENERATOR SETS FOR MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS. KEY WORDS - MOTORS, MINIATURE AIRCRAFT, GENERATOR, PERMANENT MAGNET, ALTERNATORS, BRUSHLESS, POWER REGULATION.