Advanced Low-Drag Ram Air Turbine

The SBIR Phase II project will initially involve engineering, testing, and evaluation of a ground testable low drag-ram air turbine generator prototype used to determine the design requirements of a flight worthy unit. The design will be modified asrequired based on test results and analysis by computer modeling techniques prior to building two flight worthy prototypes.The prototype production process will include the manufacture or procurement of all mechanical, electrical, and electronic components, and testing/evaluation of system subassemblies before final assembly.Laboratory vibration and shock testing of the prototype will be followed by blower cell evaluation for power output. Anticipated Phase III will involve Safety-of-Flight ground tests followed by support of flight testing. The low drag-ram air turbinegenerator will operate as a direct replacement for the current RATgen system on the EA-6B radar jamming AN/ALQ-99 pod at 27 kVA output. The 27 kVA generator used in the present RAT can be utilized in this system. This version of the invention is alsocapable of powering the AN/ALQ-99 pod on the EA-18 aircraft for the entire flight envelope up to 40 kVA, with potential use on future EA-18 advanced radar jamming pod systems.