ULPOWER UL260i Aero Engine
ULPOWER Aero Engines

Formed in 2006, ULPOWER Aero Engines is a small Belgian company which started as a joint venture by a number of individuals and companies. Their intention is to develop and manufacture a light weight aero engine where power and reliability is priority number one.

This has resulted in the UL260i engine. It is a four cylinder, air cooled, direct drive, FADEC equipped low RPM engine. To this day multiple aircraft manufacturers have included this engine in their designs. One could say that the designers have succeeded in their goals.

UL260i engine design

The UL260i engine is built around proven technology. Multi point electronic fuel injection is used to replace the inefficient carburettors of earlier times resulting in lower fuel consumption, no carburettor ice with redundant variable timing dual ignition. The propeller is direct driven reducing weight even more.

This has resulted in an aero engine with an excellent power to weight ratio suitable for use in ultra light, LSA and other small experimental homebuilt aircraft.

FADEC
The engine has a Full Authority Digital Engine Control and it controls all aspects of engine operation, altitude compensation, the amount of fuel injected and the timing of the ignition. All of this results in a stable RPM, no icing, lower fuel consumption, easier starting (just press the button and go) and good throttle response. More detailed information here.

The choice for a FADEC driven engine was relatively easy: Why design a new engine and use magneto and carburetor technology from the last century?

Air cooled
Another manufacturer produces water cooled aircraft engines. As this brings along more complexity, weight and points of failure ULPOWER has chosen to design an air cooled engine with a large enough fin area suitable high power in high temperature situations.

Engine specifications
To give the reader any idea about the engine we have included some specifications:

Displacement : 2592 cc [158.17 cu in]
Bore : 105.6 mm [4.157 in]
Stroke : 74 mm [2.913 in]
Compression Ratio : 8.16 : 1
Firing Order : 1 - 3 - 2 - 4
Direction of Rotation : Clockwise - seen from cockpit
Maximum Torque (ISA conditions) : 207 Nm [152.7 ft.lbf] @ 2500 rpm
Power rating (ISA conditions) : 95 hp @ 3300 rpm / 82 hp @ 2800 rpm
All up dry weight : 72.3 kg [159.3 lbs] (including all accessories such as electric fuel pump, filters, oil cooler, alternator and exhaust system)
DC output : 30 Amp (+/- 15 Amp available above engine/fuel pump needs)
Oil capacity : 2.5 L [0.66 US gal]
Fuel : Regular unleaded automotive gasoline with min. 95 Octane RON (87 MON = 91 AKI), Avgas 100LL may also be used if regular fuel is not available.