MIE.27 – UAV Fuel Distribution

• Moises Cornejo
• Mustafa Elkhatib
• Ruchira Fernando
• Mario Fornarelli
• Tyreke Kerley

The goal of this project is to investigate and fabricate a method of emptying a chamber that allows a spectrometer to take readings of different fluids, using a parabolic mirror and light source to shine a light through sapphire glass windows. This methodology is an attempt to read a new fluid in the chamber. The fluid passing through the chamber is jet fuel for a UAV, but water will be used for modeling this design. The customer requests a solution that includes no active valves and pumps, relying on passive solutions, and making sure the flow remains constant. The current proposed solution involves the use of a pressure relief valve to control the flow exiting the chamber, while keeping pressure loss at a minimum. Constraints include, pressure differential close to zero, inlet pressure of 20 psi, no energy or electronics can be used, reliant on passive solutions, the chamber must be scalable, there must be continuous flow to the fuel injector, and the design has to work at a 20 degree tilt. After performing calculations using the Buckingham Pi Theorem, it is determined that this design cannot be scaled. It was determined that the usage of no valves was not feasible, further investigation would be needed in order to achieve a passive solution. It was not determined if the final prototype would be suitable for the 20 degree tilt. Finally, there was difficulty in achieving a close to zero pressure differential without the use of valves.