The energy autonomy of UAVs is an important direction in the field of aerospace. Long-endurance aerial vehicles allow for continuous flight; however, to meet the guidelines, the power supply system has to be able to harvest energy from outside. Solar cells allow the production of electricity during the day when the sun shines on their surface. Depending on the location, time, weather, and other external factors, the energy produced by PV panels will change. In order to calculate as accurately as possible the energy obtained by solar cells, we developed a simulation model that took into account all of the external restrictions and the UAV’s limits during flight. The conducted analysis made it possible to obtain information for the specific input data on whether the UAV is able to fly for 24 h in a specific flight scenario. The UAV powered by solar cells developed by us and the performed aviation missions have shown that the UAV is capable of continuous flight without the need to land.
This article presents the results of work of power supply system of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) powered by solar cells. The UAV power supply system consists of solar cells, a charge controller, battery cells and a BMS (Battery Management System). During the designing process various options for energy acquisition and recovery was considered, in particular ATG (Advanced Thermoelectric Generator). The MBD (Model-Based Design) methodology was used to develop the UAV power supply system. The system was developed in simulation model and next it was studied to find the space of possible solutions using this model. Solar cells are the most efficient if the sun rays fall on them perpendicular. During the simulation various angles of inclination of solar cells in relation to sun rays were studied. These values depend on latitude, azimuth, season (length of day), weatheri.e. if there are any clouds and even air pollution. The power supply system had to be constructed in such a way to ensure during the day excess to energy enabling the operation of the engines, peripheral devices (sensors, measuring devices, GPS module) as well as charging the batteries to maximum capacity. The next step was related to the proper selection of battery cells to ensure the operation of the devices and flight at night. The whole research was additionally extended by minimizing the mass of power supply elements while increasing the ability to achieve energy autonomy. The developed system allows to increase the UAV flight duration, and with appropriate construction, geographical location and favorable weather conditions it is able to provide full energy autonomy of the UAV. The UAV powered by solar cells enables for example monitoring of pollution, boundaries, power lines, crops and measuring selected physical quantities over any area e.g. smog.
A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) is a type of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that allows for flight in harsh weather for surveillance and access to remote areas. VTOL can be performed without a runway. As such, VOTL UAVs are used in areas where there is limited space and in urban locations. The structural endurance of VTOL UAVs is limited and is further reduced in the case of fixed-wing UAVs. Long-endurance aerial vehicles allow for continuous flight, but their power supply systems must be able to harvest energy from external sources in order to meet the guidelines. The wings of these UAVs are often covered with solar cells. This article presents the extended range and flight time of a tail-sitter VTOL that incorporates solar cells on the UAV structure. A VTOL powered by solar cells can perform aviation missions with fewer landings, allowing for the performance of such UAVs to be increased and for their flight time to be extended several times over those without solar cells. Simulations accounting for the use of PV panels on the UAV structure show that depending on the scenario and flight date, VTOLs can double the flight time on the spring equinox and increase the flight time by more than six times on the summer solstice.
This article presents the results of work related to design, analysis and selection of the electric motors, servos and elements of motion system for 3D printed snakebot. Electric motors and servos had to meet a number of requirements like dimensions, torque, RPM. The drivetrain allowed to drive the snakebot and rotate system allowed to torsional movement between adjacent robot modules. CAD model and analysis allowed to select the proper elements of drivetrain and rotate system. We built test stands and after verification we built the prototype. Next step after building the robot was to carry out tests to verify the mobility of the snake robot. We checked, among others, movement of servos in different planes, snakebot speed, driving at angle (up and down).
This article presents the results of work related to the power supply system for 10kW electric, rental go-kart. The research took into account a few types of battery cells. For the case study, the best option was chosen taking into account the restrictions included in the multicriteria analysis for further application. Chosen BLDC motor and battery type were tested on test stands and simulated in MATLAB/Simulink. Simulation model allowed to compare the characteristics from test stands and simulation and next tune the model. Minimum capacity of the batteries had to allow for at least 20 minutes of drive. Chosen elements: electric motor, motor controller, battery cells, BMS allowed to build the first prototype. Tests in real conditions showed the difference between simulation and research system. We could notice what to improve to tune the simulation model and the kart power supply system.
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.
hi@scite.ai
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.