Retro fit kit to the exhaust of a JetCat P100 for electrical power generation

Abstract

This paper presents the design and analysis of a power generator retro fit kit that bolts on a JetCat P100 in place of the stock nozzle. The motivation for this study is for small high-speed aircraft that would benefit from a power supply to their payload. The approach to this study was to first create a cycle analysis to determine the restraints and characteristics of the flow through the stock JetCat P100. From this analysis it was determined that the optimal place to extract power is from the exhaust, since the exhaust has the highest mass flow rate potential to be harvested from. Finally, detailed drawings of each component were made and analyzed. The final design is a power turbine in the nozzle that is connected to a generator through a gear box. When the exhaust flow spools up the turbine, the generator will produce an AC current. This current will go through a rectifier converting it into DC current that can be stored in a battery. This set up will produce an excess of 500 watts of power when the engine is running at full throttle. Observation from this study can inform potential aircraft and engine designers for small high-speed aircrafts.