Suter’s TOA288 UAV Engine Passes FAA FAR33.49 Endurance Test
Suter has announced its Suter TOA288 engine has passed an endurance test run according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulation section 33.49 for reciprocating engines. FAR 33.49 is a demanding FAA reciprocating aircraft engine endurance test that is a requirement for manned aircraft piston engines to be certified for use. Suter performed this testing recently at their state of the art facilities in Turbenthal, Switzerland to evaluate durability performance of its 24hp engine that is currently flying on several global UAV platforms. The Suter TOA288 engine can also be used for non-aerospace applications like APU’s.
Engine performance testing and component inspection were completed after the 150hr FAR33.49 durability test and no issues were noticed with loss of performance or accelerated component wear. The engine was re-assembled with the existing hardware and is scheduled to run additional tests. The results will help Suter define TBO (time before overhaul) and maintenance schedules for the life of the engine to make sure the engine is reliable and achieves a cost competitive price/hour of engine operation over the life of the engine.
The Suter TOA288 is a twin cylinder, horizontal opposed, air cooled, two cycle engine, utilizing fuel injection, an advanced electronic engine management system and a 1kW starter/generator. Displacement is 288cm3. Power: 17.5kW (24HP) @6500rpm. The engine was a design collaboration between CAE GmbH and Suter Industries combining CAE’s 25 years of manned & unmanned 2-stroke engine experience with Suter’s over 25 years of 2-stroke motorcycle racing design & manufacturing experience.
Suter’s TOA288 engine will be on display at AUVSI’s Xponential conference in Atlanta, GA AUG 16-19 at the UAV Propulsion Tech booth (#2330).
About Suter Industries:
Suter Industries’ roots go back to motorcycle racing era of the 1990s. Eskil Suter was a successful Grand Prix racing driver and founded the Suter Racing company in 1996. The company is known for their “SuterClutch” and other products for the motorcycle racing market including high-performance engines, motorcycles and various components. In 2015, Suter Racing launched a four-cylinder two-stroke racing machine with the worldwide exclusive Suter500, which was developed completely in-house. Since 2002 Suter Industries applied the expertise gained from engine development to other areas of relevance in vehicle, aviation and defense industries.
About CAE GmbH:
CAE GmbH is lead by Dietrich Kehe who is a mechanical engineer with over 24 years’ experience in manned and unmanned 2-stroke aircraft engines. He received his engineering degree with a focus on combustion engines from the University of Hochschule für Technik – Esslingen (Stuttgart, Germany area). Dietrich has developed clean sheet engine designs for advanced UAV applications utilizing advanced electronic fuel injection (including direct injection) technology. These solutions are flying on some of the world’s most advanced UAV applications. CAE GmbH has teamed with Suter to develop world class UAV engines for the global market.
About UAV Propulsion Tech:
Schmidt Products, LLC (dba UAV Propulsion Tech) is a privately held US company that markets global UAV technology into the defense and commercial UAV markets. These solutions include consumer off the shelf (COTs) and custom: propulsion, autopilot, servo/actuator, electric turbofans, pneumatic launchers, gyro-stabilized EO/IR gimbals, MEMS INS GPS, fuel level/flow sensors, fuel systems, fuel cells, hyperspectral cameras, DC electric motors/generators and rescue/recovery parachute solutions. These products are proven solutions that are flying on several high end global UAV platforms
