Nuclear power to improve the endurance of unmanned aerial vehicles

ZHU Bingyu; DING Qingqing

doi:10.16511/j.cnki.qhdxxb.2020.26.030

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Journal of Tsinghua University(Science and Technology) ›› 2021, Vol. 61 ›› Issue (11) : 1295-1300. DOI: 10.16511/j.cnki.qhdxxb.2020.26.030

NUCLEAR ENERGY AND NEW ENERGY

Nuclear power to improve the endurance of unmanned aerial vehicles

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Abstract

Endurance is an important indicator of aircraft performance. Nuclear energy has extremely high energy densities and is expected to significantly improve the endurance of unmanned aerial vehicles. This paper takes a certain type of UAV in the world as a prototype. And through analysis and comparison of nuclear thermal propulsion core schemes, a core scheme suitable for the core module of the nuclear power system of the UAV is designed to replace the original power system engine, the core module combustion chamber of the engine. Then this paper analyses the feasibility of the core module of the engine to be equipped with nuclear power, and the improvement of the endurance of the UAV driven by nuclear power. The results show that the nuclear power reactor core weighs 1 504.75 kg, requires a 3% enrichment degree of UC 119 kg, and the fuel working temperature is lower than 2 500 K, which meets the reactor physics and thermal engineering requirements. The core lifetime is nearly 170 days, which can significantly improve the endurance of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Key words

nuclear power / unmanned aerial vehicle / endurance

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ZHU Bingyu, DING Qingqing. Nuclear power to improve the endurance of unmanned aerial vehicles[J]. Journal of Tsinghua University(Science and Technology). 2021, 61(11): 1295-1300 https://doi.org/10.16511/j.cnki.qhdxxb.2020.26.030

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