Precision and OR Reliability

From humble beginnings in an Oregon garage, Northwest UAV (NWUAV) has evolved into a premier provider of propulsion systems for the unmanned vehicle industry.

The company’s expertise and products span heavy-fuel propulsion; hydrogen fuel cell power; Engine Control Units (ECU), ignition and fuel-injection systems; servo actuators; sense-and-avoid technology; engine diagnostic and test equipment; Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) propulsion and payload engineering; and flight-testing in the company’s FAA certified airspace.

After over 15 years of steadily developing and delivering over 18,000 engines, and over one-million flight-hours, NWUAV continues to drive the unmanned systems industry into an era of unprecedented growth, fantastic possibility, and burgeoning infrastructural relevance.

On 3 October 2022, Northwest UAV completed initial testing of the company’s NW-230 twin-cylinder, multi-fuel, UAV engine. The new powerplant derives of technologies pioneered in its NW-44 and NW-88 progenitors, and is designed to offer endurance and reliability to Group III UAVs—a class of large unmanned air vehicles, the payloads and performance of which are conducive to both commercial and military purposes.

NWUAV owner and president Chris Harris states: “With the success of our first two proprietary heavy-fuel engines, the NW-44 and NW-88, which offer more reliable, efficient, cost-effective solutions for Group II & III UAVs, it’s just a natural progression to continue to lean on our expertise to offer solutions for the UAVs of today and the future. The industry is leaning toward higher, faster, longer missions for aircraft payloads that continue to increase the demands of the systems powering them, and our NW-230 is designed to provide the levels of maturity the industry mandates. By designing systems around increased engine life, continually improving maintenance cycles, endurance and fuel burn, our engines are focused on your total cost of ownership and the return on your investment.” Mr. Harris adds: “And it’s no longer just about staying in the air. If the last two years have taught us anything, we have to be able to rely on mature, established build practices that lower the chances of supply chain delays and cost overruns. That is why we have built the NW-230 with components made in America, and continue to manufacture all our proprietary products in house, where we control the quality, cost, and expertise it takes to produce world-class propulsion systems.”

Since its inception, Northwest UAV has set the UAS industry’s propulsion standards. The company has performed over ten-thousand hours of development testing on multiple engine platforms. The entirety of NWUAV’s systems are designed to operate on various heavy fuels or gasoline in a broad variety of climates. The powerplants’ patented temperature control system and cylinder design ensure reliable engine operation through a wide temperature range (-30°C to +55°C) while operating on heavy fuels. What’s more, NWUAV’s engineers have  resolutely striven to ensure the propulsion systems they design are straightforward and easy to maintain both in-shop and afield.

The NW-230 engine is slated to complete development testing this year, and is expected to be in the skies by the first quarter of 2023.

FMI: www.NWUAV.com