Solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles

Reinhardt, Kitt; Lamp, Thomas R.; Geis, Jack W.; Colozza, Anthony J.

doi:10.1109/iecec.1996.552842

Cited by 22 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…An increase in flight time by using the battery in multiple stages has been demonstrated in Jain et al (2020b). Solar-powered UAVs, which can potentially fly large distances, have been explored in Reinhardt et al (1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

QUaRTM: A Quadcopter with Unactuated Rotor Tilting Mechanism capable of faster, more agile, and more efficient flight

2022

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We present QUaRTM – a novel quadcopter design capable of tilting the propellers into the forward flight direction, which reduces the drag area and therefore allows for faster, more agile, and more efficient flight. The vehicle can morph between two configurations in mid-air, including the untilted configuration and the tilted configuration. The vehicle in the untilted configuration has a higher pitch torque capacity and a smaller vertical dimension. The vehicle in the tilted configuration has a lower drag area, leading to a higher top speed, higher agility at high speed, and better flight efficiency. The morphing is accomplished without any additional actuators beyond the four motors of a quadcopter. The rigid connections between the quadcopter frame and the quadcopter arms are replaced with sprung hinges. This allows the propellers to be tilted when high thrusts are produced, and recover to the untilted configuration when the thrusts are brought low. The effectiveness of such a vehicle is demonstrated by running experiments on a prototype vehicle with a shape similar to a regular quadcopter. Through the use of tilting, the vehicle is shown to have a 12.5% higher maximum speed, better high-speed agility as the maximum crash-free cruise speed increased by 7.5%, and a better flight efficiency as the power consumption has dropped by more than 20% in the speed range of 15–20 m s−1.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

QUaRTM: A Quadcopter with Unactuated Rotor Tilting Mechanism capable of faster, more agile, and more efficient flight

2022

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“…. The power required from the photovoltaic cells to maintain controlled flight can then be represented in an energy diagram as used by Reinhardt et al (1996). A typical of such diagram is shown in Figure 1, representing the power produced by the photovoltaic cells as a function of time.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A study of solar‐powered, high‐altitude unmanned aerial vehicles

Baldock

Mokhtarzadeh‐Dehghan

2006

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology

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Purpose -Aims to present a methodology for analysing a solar-electric, high-altitude, long-endurance, unmanned aircraft. Design/methodology/approach -The study focuses on the aerodynamics, flight performance and power requirements of a heavier-than-air, solarelectric, HALE UAV. The methodology is founded on using an analytical approach to determine the power required to undertake various flight manoeuvres. An analytical approach is also undertaken in determining the intensity of the solar radiation available to the aircraft. Finally to demonstrate the methodology, a HALE concept was generated and evaluated. Findings -When using estimates of current solar-electric propulsion and energy conversion efficiencies, the HALE concept was only able to sustain year round, level flight up to latitudes of 108N.Research limitations/implications -Further analysis needs to be undertaken into the effect of altitude on the intensity of solar radiation, which could be as much as 25 per cent higher at an altitude of 21.3 km (70,000 ft). Further study into this subject area may provide proof that sustained flight is possible at more northerly latitudes. Originality/value -This paper provides a simple methodology for persons wishing to undertake an initial feasibility study of a solar-electric HALE concept.

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“…speed) over a trajectory is presented in [13]. The usage and analysis of a solar-powered UAV, which can potentially fly for a really long time, are discussed in [14]. However, such a vehicle requires a large wing-span, is sensitive to weather conditions, and is not suitable for indoor settings.…”

Section: B Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Staging energy sources to extend flight time of a multirotor UAV

Jain

Tang

Sreenath

et al. 2020

2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)

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Energy sources such as batteries do not decrease in mass after consumption, unlike combustion-based fuels. We present the concept of staging energy sources, i.e. consuming energy in stages and ejecting used stages, to progressively reduce the mass of aerial vehicles in-flight which reduces power consumption, and consequently increases flight time. A flight time vs. energy storage mass analysis is presented to show the endurance benefit for multirotors on staging. We consider two specific problems in discrete staging -optimal order of staging given a certain number of energy sources, and optimal partitioning of a given energy storage mass budget into a given number of stages. We then derive results for two continuously staged cases -an internal combustion engine driving propellers, and a rocket engine. A fundamental flight time limit is seen for the internal combustion engine case, but not for the rocket engine, suggesting that rocket engines could be a better choice in certain scenarios. Lastly, we conduct flight experiments a on a custom two-stage battery-powered quadcopter. This quadcopter can eject a battery stage after consumption in-flight using a custom-designed mechanism, and continue hovering using the next stage. The experimental flight times are compared with those predicted from the analysis for our vehicle. The values match well which validates the presented staging analysis.

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Solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles

Cited by 22 publications

References 1 publication

QUaRTM: A Quadcopter with Unactuated Rotor Tilting Mechanism capable of faster, more agile, and more efficient flight

QUaRTM: A Quadcopter with Unactuated Rotor Tilting Mechanism capable of faster, more agile, and more efficient flight

A study of solar‐powered, high‐altitude unmanned aerial vehicles

Staging energy sources to extend flight time of a multirotor UAV

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