Solar UAV. An analysis of literature

Journal of Aerospace Technology and Management, 2016

One of the main problems in micro unmanned aerial vehicles is endurance or flight time since the general domain aircraft uses conventional fuel, which is a pollutant, has a limited life and is costly. Then, there is a huge demand for using an unlimited non-exhaustible source of energy. Solar energy is one of the unlimited available renewable energy which can be used to increase the endurance of unmanned aerial vehicle without adding significant mass or increasing the size of the fuel system. This paper aims to encourage research on renewable energy sources for aviation considering the basic challenges for a solar-powered aircraft: geographical area of operation, energy collection and storage, payload and design parameters. Hence, a plane is designed for 2 kg, including payload, and is analyzed in various aspects. Besides, the design is optimized starting from airfoil to complete structure for better performance.

NED UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF RESEARCH - APPLIED SCIENCES, 2023

Solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with long endurance can be utilised for area surveillance as the regenerative nature of solar energy makes such UAVs a terrestrial satellite with 24/7 endurance. This paper presents an aerodynamic optimisation scheme for UAVs through the selection of airfoils and wing planform during the preliminary design phase. Sizing of the tail and control surface based on historical trends for similar aircraft is also substantiated. Finally, detailed aerodynamic and stability analyses of the optimised configuration validate adequate flying and handling qualities of UAVs. The optimisation effort increased the endurance factor by 19.75 percent. This increase will conserve the energy required to overcome in-flight drag and surplus power that can be utilised by onboard equipment.

Renewable Energy, 2017

IOP conference series, 2019

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or otherwise known as Drones define that on-board pilot is replaced by a remote controlled computer system and the radio link. The increasing presence of drone technology and its influence in today's world is quite apparent. UAVs have immeasurable potential in different services where they are becoming eyes and ears and providing a broad range of solutions. Flying opens new opportunities to soar above the horizon and snap a photo or videoand we experience the benefits that they are providing. However, despite the promising potential, one of the main problem is endurance or flight time as it uses limited energy storage batteries or conventional fuel which has a limited life and is costly. Using solar energy through solar cells into modern aircraft technology instead of increasing the size of the fuel system or battery sizing will increasing the potential of unmanned aerial vehicle. The aim of this paper is to gives an overview of solar-powered drones and their design for a 36-hrs endurance flight.

The harnessing of solar energy during the operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV) [1] provides a potential solution to combat the energy constraints. This thesis examines the practicality of a mini solar-assisted UAV and provides experimental validation in regards to energy maximization through solar-electric power management and flight path optimization. A solar-assisted UAV is constructed and shows an increase in flight time. In addition, through the application of power management techniques, an increase in net energy for the solar-assisted UAV is observed. A simulation environment is also developed providing a model for the UAV and estimations for the energy collected and consumed during flight. The simulation results are consistent with real-time measurements during flight tests. Finally, an energy-optimal flight path increasing the net energy is obtained and successfully demonstrated during flight tests. This project deals with UAV using solar energy as their only source of energy for more than 24 hours’ flight. Using solar panels, it collects the energy during the day for immediate use but also store the remaining part for the night flight. The objective is to identify, design and analyze such a reusable solar power unmanned aerial vehicle for high altitude long endurance application with successful implementation of higher energy density batteries such as Li-Po. A detail analysis has been performed to compare similar airplanes to study their successes and failure. An aircraft with similar wingspan as NASA Helios [2] and remarkably less weight, nearly 1135lb, than it is been design. A weight analysis and power sensitivity analysis were researched, and it was shown that this aircraft would generate 75kw of power that is greater than the power available to fly.

Journal of Aerospace Technology and Management, 2016

In order to promote the development of renewable energy and take advantage of the new technologies for the benefit of sustainability, both the design and the manufacture methodologies of an experimental solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle for civilian surveillance applications are presented. Throughout the document, it is provided the historical process around the development of the aircraft. Therefore, in the first part, it is shown the aerodynamic design, which includes the 2-D and 3-D analyses of the wing platform using numerical and experimental methods, the analytical design of the empennage configuration, and the main characteristics of the performance analysis. In addition, major systems and components that characterize the aircraft are described, such as the photovoltaic solar cells configuration as well as the electronics and control system into the unmanned aerial vehicle. Lastly, the modeling for the weights distribution of the components was carried out in a preliminary test using CAD tools. Thus, it was obtained a suitable process for the manufacture of the unmanned aerial vehicle, considering that the purpose of the aircraft is to be as light and aerodynamic as possible to accomplish the mission for which it was created.

2014

The aim of this thesis was to develop and implement a computational process to enable the swift design of different UAV configurations and their aerodynamic analysis. To this end, a CAD tool using scripts was adopted to define the UAV external shape which was later imported into a CFD tool to generate suitable meshes. The test case consisted of a Long Endurance Electric UAV (LEEUAV), that was aerodynamically analyzed and parametrically optimized. While performing the aerodynamic analyses, turbulence models Spalart-Allmaras and k − ω SST, the later used in tandem with the γ − Reθ transition model, were employed and their predictions compared with experimental data. Only the k − ω SST turbulence model and the γ − Reθ transition model were employed in the detailed aerodynamic simulations. During cruise, the baseline LEEUAV presents a lift-to-drag ratio of 14.01, stall speed of 6.21 m/s and maximum cruise speed of 29.3 m/s. To enhance the baseline cruise performance, several parametric ...

PGR Symposium 2017, University of Salford, Salford Innovation Research Centre (SIRC), 2017

In this paper, a description of newly developed conceptual and preliminary design approaches is introduced, to design a high altitude long endurance solar powered unmanned aerial vehicle. The conceptual design approach is based on representing the mass and the power requirement of each aircraft element as a fraction, in order to produce the total mass equation. The fractions have been gathered statistically from available data of existing aircraft of the same type. The mass equation will be solved for the expected range of the aspect ratio and span of the wing to generate a possible design space. The optimal design is then concluded from the design space as the minimum weight. This approach has been validated using existing data of related aircraft. In the preliminary design tool, the aircraft shape and the wing geometry are designed using the main characteristics of aircraft which were obtained from a previous design stage. An appropriate twist and sweep of the wing are then found using an optimisation tool which contains the aerodynamic and the structure models. The outcome at this stage must be a flyable aircraft geometry capable of meeting the mission requirements. Moreover, a case study of designing a solar powered aircraft is introduced using the developed design approaches.

IECEC 96. Proceedings of the 31st Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, 1996