MEMS Fuel Injection System

The culture of the defense industry might be different from that of office supplies vendors—PM caught Da Cunha manning a booth in 98 degree weather at an UAV demonstration at a naval air station in Maryland—but the technology of printers and engines are related. Ink-jet printers have very tight control over the amount of fluid released by the nozzles. That kind of precision is needed to avoid problems that occur when the injector releases blobs of fuel that are too large to fully evaporate, which can make the engine stutter or gum up the insides. “The structures are the same but the dimensions are different,” Da Cunha says. “Inks are water-based, and they’re different than hydrocarbon fuels.” Da Cunha’s MEMSFIS has been tested with various heavy fuels, including traditional aviation standbys JP8 and JP5, producing 10 micron drops. The structures are so small that there are 750 nozzles around the 9mm ring in this laser-cut plastic chip. These can be stacked as needed to increase the amount of fuel. The company, of course, is eager to pass on the dividends of this research to civilian applications, including lawnmowers, power generators and motorcycles.