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Domestically produced UAV rotor engines will be unveiled at the Zhuhai Airshow

The engine is a core component of the UAV industry and is key to determining the overall performance of the UAV.

2024-11-11

On November 11th, Economic Observer learned from Jiangsu Yunzheng Intelligent Power Technology Co., Ltd. ("Yunzheng Power" for short) that Yunzheng Power will launch the nation's first unmanned aerial vehicle rotor engine at the 15th Zhuhai Air Show.

Yunzheng Power was established in 2023, and its core product is an aviation rotor engine. Since the team was formed in 2018, it has advanced the aviation rotor engine to the mass production trial stage. The engine is one of the most important components of unmanned aerial vehicles, accounting for about 30% of the total cost of the UAV.

Different from the working principle of traditional piston engines, the rotor engine rotates a triangular rotor in the cylinder, directly converting the combustion expansion force into driving torque. It has advantages such as high power-to-weight ratio, compact structure, low vibration, and strong high-speed performance.

Aviation rotor engines are considered one of the most important solutions in the global next-generation aviation power field (excluding turbine-based power), effectively solving the bottlenecks of the UAV industry, such as "low payload, short cruising range, small operating radius, and poor stability." Yunzheng Power will showcase two series of this rotor engine at the 15th Zhuhai Air Show: the integrated ignition version and the electronic control version.

Jiang Xinyun, founder of Yunzheng Power, told Economic Observer that the engine is a core component of the UAV industry and is the key to determining the overall performance of the UAV. Compared with piston engines, rotor engines have more advantages at high altitudes, because the performance of piston engines weakens significantly with increasing altitude, while rotor engines can compensate through high speed.

Industrial UAVs typically perform tasks such as geographic mapping, oil and gas pipeline inspection, agricultural plant protection, industrial inspection and maintenance, and emergency rescue during high-altitude operations. These high-altitude operations rely on the endurance and load-carrying capacity of the UAVs.

For example, in oil and gas pipeline inspections, UAVs need to carry detection equipment such as infrared thermal imagers and high-definition cameras, which are relatively heavy and require sufficient power system support. After a disaster occurs, UAVs need to quickly reach the disaster area for reconnaissance and assessment. If the power system is not reliable enough, the UAV may not be able to fly in bad weather conditions, or the flight time may not be enough to cover the entire disaster area.

According to Jiang Xinyun, the 30KW rotor engine completed its final test flight in Xi'an in August this year, reaching a maximum power of 30kw. It has now completed small-batch production and can be applied to heavy-load, long-endurance UAVs, including fire-fighting, emergency, logistics, and island takeoff and landing UAVs. Yunzheng Power will next complete the research and development and finalization of heavy oil and oil-electric hybrid rotor engines.

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