Electric Multirotor UAV Propulsion System Sizing for Performance Prediction and Design Optimization

Propulsion Sizing Correlations for Electrical and Fuel Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

“…As presented in Refs. [17,18,31], the main components of an electric propulsion system (conventional or hybrid-electric) are the electric motor, the electronic speed controller (ESC), the battery, and the propeller/fan. This section covers the formulation of sizing correlations for cells & batteries, electric ducted fans, and brushless motors (outrunner and inrunner).…”

“…This section covers the formulation of sizing correlations for cells & batteries, electric ducted fans, and brushless motors (outrunner and inrunner). Propellers and ESCs have not been included in this analysis since information regarding these devices is widely available on the open domain * and their weight can be neglected when compared with batteries' or electric motors' weight [18].…”

“…Brushless motors are other key component in electric propulsion systems since they convert the electrical power stored in the battery into mechanical power [17,18]. Refs.…”

“…Refs. [17][18][19] present some correlations to determine the weight, diameter, no load current and internal resistance of the electric brushless motor; nevertheless, the accuracy of those correlations is questionable because of two factors: the really low value of the coefficient of correlation R 2 (where provided), and the number of data points and manufacturers included in those analysis. Similar to previous works [17][18][19], the motor constant (KV motor ) was defined as independent variable for this study, since it offers a direct link between the commercial selection of brushless motors and the number of RPM of the propeller and the voltage of the battery that powers the electric motor.…”

“…In this way, the commercial availability of these components can be accounted when optimization routines are implemented in the design of propulsion system. Hence, the importance of this work lies on complementing other correlations studies [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], since it can be embedded on UAV optimization and design routines to set preliminary aircraft parameters and determining their feasibility arranged in a certain configuration and based on market availability.…”