Lightweight Small-Scale Turbine Generator

The proposed innovation is a power conversion technology that will help achieve NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Program (FAP) goals of reducing emissions and increasing fuel efficiency for high speed flight. NASA's objective to increase the specific power of high efficiency electric components in order to make a 10 mega-watt onboard power generation and/or utilization feasible for propulsion requires the development of sub-scale technologies to support the development and validation of newer turbo-electric aircraft and embedded boundary layer electric propulsion systems. Compact and lightweight turbine generators scaling from the kW to MW class are needed to transition high speed aircraft to hybrid electric propulsion systems. Metis Design Corp is developing a lightweight, compact, gas turbine generator that draws on recent innovations in the fields of permanent magnet generators and turbomachinery, to achieve a target power density of over twice the state-of-the-art and the potential to scale to 100's of kW. The proposed turbine engine uses a lightweight, two-spool configuration that eliminates the need for the heavy reduction gearbox required by state-of-the-art systems. Phase II of this SBIR effort will develop a detailed design, then fabricate and test the complete turbine generator sub-system in a laboratory environment.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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