Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/96284
Lef—Tis is the fnal layout of the newest ULPower engine. Te sixcylinder engine is actually the well-known ULPower four-cylinder powerplant that was stretched in the middle by the addition of the all-new cylinder. Te forward and rear cylinders/pistons/piston rods are taken from the current production. Of course, the crankshaf and the intake manifold plus wiring wee adapted to the longer engine. The American experimental and European ultralight (UL) markets have been waiting a long time for a new aircraft engine rated above 120 hp. ULPower, a small aircraft engine manufacturer from Belgium, has now started selling a new six-cylinder engine. The new engine is actually available in two models—UL390 and UL520—and develop from 140/160 hp to 180/200 hp. Uncommonly, ULPower folks first took on production of the bigger and stronger six-cylinder UL520i/iS engine. The smaller six-cylinder UL390 i/iS (140/160 hp) is still undergoing ground and dyno testing and will be soon available. The new six-cylinder engine was first shown two years ago during AERO Friedrichshafen 2010. At the time, it was just a test balloon to determine acceptance in the marketplace. The public reaction was so good the ULPower team decided to proceed with the engine development. The first six-cylinder engine was running on the factory dyno in fall 2011. Because the thrust-to-weight ratio is pretty appealing to designers, we will likely see these engines on several "powerhungry" aircraft; during AERO 2011's opening day, ULPower sold five engines. To better understand ULPower's engine family, we have to step back into the past and describe the uncommon story of ULPower. As I started collecting information about the company, I was quickly confused. First, I was not able to understand how this small company was able to bring to the market an entirely new engine family, which now counts 10 different powerplants, so fast. Secondly, I was not able to understand why there were two different locations in Belgium that are involved in the engine manufacturing. So let's start from the beginning. Some of you might remember the Belgian light helicopter project called the M-80 Mosquito that was developed in 1996. That helicopter was first powered with the two-stroke Rotax 582 engine and with the Jabiru 2200. The Mosquito designer dropped the Rotax engine because of warranty issues associated with a vertical engine installation and focused on the only other promising engine on the market at that time—we're talking about the year 2000— the Jabiru. That four-stroke engine seemed suitable for the Photography by Marino Boric EAA EXPERIM ENTER 23