Design of Engine Control Unit with Arduino Board for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to control fuel flow

Abstract

This paper explains about the Engine Control Unit (ECU) to control fuel flow and to increase engine efficiency and life-span with the help of Arduino Board. This ECU is specifically designed for Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). [1] This specifically designed Engine Control Unit embedded with Arduino C Programming can be adapted to similar engines in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (MALE) with minor changes and without manufacturer dependent. The system can control the fuel flow rate with the help of Tachometer and Thermocouple. The result was shown that the speed and temperature of the engine are maintained at 2500RPM and 100 degree Celsius respectively. The above result is obtained by maintaining 3 conditions, Based on these conditions the fuel flow is reduced to 70%, 55% and 35%. The final output was found to be, fuel wastage is reduced by 5% - 15% compared to an existing ECU.