On-demand aviation refers to an envisaged air taxi service, using small, autonomous, vertical-takeoff-and-landing, battery-powered electric aircraft. A conceptual design and optimization tool for on-demand aviation is presented in this thesis. The tool uses Geometric Programming, a class of optimization problems with extremely fast solve times and for which global optimality is guaranteed. The optimization model consists of a vehicle, a sizing mission, a revenue-generating mission, and a deadhead (non-passenger-carrying) mission. Cost per trip, including the additional cost due to the deadhead mission, is used as the objective function. Vehicle noise is computed during post-processing using a semi-empirical method. The tool is used to conduct a study of on-demand aviation from a vehicle design perspective.A trade study is conducted between several different on-demand aircraft configurations. Four configurations are viable: the lift + cruise configuration, the compound helicopter, the tilt wing, and the tilt rotor. Configurations with a higher lift-to-drag ratio, but a higher disk loading, generally weigh less and cost less to operate; configurations with a lower lift-to-drag ratio, but a lower disk loading, are quieter. Using New York City as an example market, it is shown that an on-demand air service will cost significantly less as compared to current helicopter air taxi operations. The two most important costs are pilot salary and battery amortization. If these two costs can be reduced (via vehicle automation and reduced battery manufacturing costs respectively), an on-demand air service becomes competitive with current car ridesharing on the basis of cost per seat mile. Therefore, on-demand aviation has the potential to become a system for everyday commutes.Technological assumptions and vehicle requirements, especially mission range, battery energy density, vehicle autonomy level, battery manufacturing cost, and reserve requirements, have significant impacts on vehicle weight and cost. Vehicle noise can be reduced through the careful selection of key design parameters. However, envisaged noise requirements cannot easily be met, even with the most generous long-termThe author wishes to thank all those who contributed their insights to this work. In particular,
Electroaerodynamic (EAD) thrusters are a means of producing a propulsive force in air that does not require any moving parts and is nearly silent. In these devices, ions generated from atmospheric air are accelerated by an electric field across two electrodes at different potentials, resulting in an ionic wind and a thrust force. It has been demonstrated that EAD is a feasible form of aircraft propulsion; however, substantial performance improvements are needed for practical applications. Here, multistaged ducted (MSD) EAD thrusters, which have the potential to provide higher thrust density than previously demonstrated, are proposed and modeled. An MSD thruster contains multiple sets of electrode pairs in series, enclosed in a duct and fitted with an inlet and a nozzle. One-dimensional momentum theory is combined with models for two limiting cases for the pressure generated by each stage: ideal one-dimensional EAD stages and wire-to-airfoil corona-discharge stages. The model evaluates how geometric and electrical parameters affect the performance of MSD thrusters under both sets of assumptions. If pressure losses per stage are kept small, the results show that MSD thrusters can provide order-of-magnitude improvements in thrust density and efficiency as compared to single-stage thrusters, potentially broadening the type of missions that can be performed by EAD thrusters.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.