LiquidPiston receives $8.2M award to integrate XTS-210 heavy-fueled rotary engine into compact 10 kW genset for US Army

LiquidPiston, a developer of environment friendly engine expertise and hybrid energy methods, has been awarded an $8.3-million contract by Parsons Company to combine its lately launched high-performance rotary X-Engine, the XTS-210 (earlier post), into a light-weight, compact 10 kW generator set to be field-tested by the Military, delivering unmatched energy flexibility and portability to the warfighter.

The XTS-210 is a 25 horsepower, two-stroke, supercharged, liquid-cooled 210cc X-Engine variant at the moment beneath improvement that reduces dimension and weight by almost 80% over diesel engines with comparable energy output whereas concentrating on an SFC of lower than 350 g/kwh at maturity.

The XTS supercharger provides as much as 1 bar increase whereas working on a 2-stroke cycle, producing 6 combustion occasions per revolution of the rotor, to ship clean energy from a minuscule package deal.

XTS-210 engine core (left) in comparison with 25 hp Kohler KDW1003 (proper).

The LiquidPiston generator set (genset) might be roughly one-quarter the scale and weight of the at the moment fielded Superior Medium Cell Energy Supply (AMMPS) generator system. Given its smaller footprint and inverter kind operation, LiquidPiston’s new genset may exchange a number of current generator energy lessons with a single genset platform, significantly simplifying Military genset procurement and logistics.

Leveraging LiquidPiston’s patented Excessive Effectivity Hybrid Thermodynamic Cycle (HEHC) and compact, heavy-fueled rotary engine, the brand new genset will supply a number of key advantages:

• Light-weight: 75% lighter and smaller than the currently-fielded AMMPS

• Straightforward to move: will be man-portable, as a substitute of requiring a truck, trailer, or forklift

• Area-efficient: occupies solely ~9 cubic toes of house

• Gas-efficient: focused to make use of as much as 8% much less gas

Present navy cellular turbines are too heavy and inefficient for contemporary use circumstances, which additionally makes them a possible hazard. A 2009 report commissioned by the Military Environmental Coverage Institute (AEPI) developed a strategy for calculating casualty components for gas and water resupply convoys in theater operations. The authors demonstrated the methodology based mostly on historic information from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Casualties calculated embrace Military troopers and civilians killed or wounded whereas transporting gas or consuming water to consuming models and ahead working bases in theater.

The report discovered that the casualty issue for gas resupply in Afghanistan was 0.042—i.e., 0.042 casualties for each fuel-related resupply convoy or one casualty for each 24 gas resupply convoys in Afghanistan. For Iraq, the gas casualty issue was 0.026.

The report estimated that in 2007 there have been 5,133 required gas convoys for Iraq and 897 required gas convoys for Afghanistan—or 170 casualties (132 in Iraq, 38 in Afganistan) from gas convoys in 2007 alone.

With the ability density of LiquidPiston’s 10 kW genset, almost 4x the ability could possibly be deployed to the battlefront for a similar transport quantity as currently-fielded gensets; this would scale back the frequency of refueling and subsequently the danger to the troops.

Think about the chances which might be created when troopers now not should haul a large and inefficient generator on a towed trailer. This generator can have a revolutionary affect on the lives—and the mission success—of our armed forces. This award demonstrates a deep dedication by the Military to assist LiquidPiston develop an ultra-light and moveable energy era system, first for navy functions and later for a variety of business functions within the over $4-billion international moveable generator market.

—Dr Alec Shkolnik, co-founder and CEO of LiquidPiston

LiquidPiston’s award helps an current $14.9-million Different Transaction Award (OTA) prime contract for US Military Expeditionary Clever Tactical and Expeditionary Energy that was awarded to Polaris Alpha Superior Programs, a Parsons Firm, by the Division of Protection Ordnance Know-how Consortium (DOTC) in 2022. By this contract, Polaris Alpha Superior Programs is offering analysis and improvement to ship dependable, adaptable, and reconfigurable energy that meets prolonged energy wants for the rising variety of tactical digital gadgets utilized in more and more advanced and distant battlegrounds.

LiquidPiston’s generator answer is the results of many years of engine analysis and improvement, coupled with greater than 10 contracts secured with the US Division of Protection and greater than $20 million awarded in improvement funding over the previous 24 months, together with a $9-million DEVCOM Military Analysis Laboratory award for a Compact Environment friendly Rotary Engine introduced final fall and a $8.3-million award from DEVCOM C5ISR Middle for the event of a Gentle Weight Excessive Effectivity Mills. It can function a constructing block that may yield a household of modernized Tactical Electrical Energy (TEP) sources with comparable effectivity and dimension discount advantages.