A Conceptual Design Methodology for e-VTOL Aircraft for Urban Air Mobility

Abstract

Recent progress of electric systems has raised attention towards hybrid-electric and full-electric aircraft. Nevertheless, the current low battery energy density limits the application of these propulsive architectures to large transport aircraft. In the context of the general aviation category, full-electric aircraft for the so-called Urban Air Mobility scenario are gaining increasing interest. These air taxis, also called e-VTOL, are conceived to exploit vertical take-off and landing capabilities, to carry people from one point to another, typically within the same city. In this paper, a new conceptual design methodology for urban air vehicles is presented and applied to an innovative convertiplane, called TiltOne, based on a box-wing architecture coupled with tilt-wing mechanisms. Several TiltOne configurations have been designed according to the current regulations imposed by European Union Aviation Safety Agency, and sensitivity analyses have been carried out on the varying main design parameters, such as wing loading and propellers’ disk loading, as well as main top-level aircraft requirements. The results provide an overview for today’s operational capabilities of such aircraft and, in addition, depict possible scenarios for a near-future horizon, based on the assumption of increased performance levels for the electric powertrain components. In such scenario, two different concepts of operations are analysed and discussed: the first is based on a given design range, long enough to cover the urban distances; the second is conceived to exploit the capability of flying multiple shorter missions with a single battery charge. The designed TiltOne configurations derived from these different approaches are presented, highlighting their potential capabilities and possible drawbacks.

Design and Analysis of VTOL Operated Intercity Electrical Vehicle for Urban Air Mobility

“…Giuseppe et al [14] presented a new conceptual design methodology for the tilt-wing type eVTOL known as 'TiltOne'. Two tilt-wing configurations, known as "single mission" and "multi mission", were considered.…”

Preliminary Sizing of an eVTOL Lift-Cruise Aircraft

“…The lift-cruise configuration combines features of both rotary-wing (RW) and fixed-wing (FW) configurations. This configuration typically includes a combination of horizontal and vertical thrust capabilities, which allows the aircraft to take-off and land vertically like a rotorcraft and then transition to forward flight like a FW aircraft [4][5][6]. The lift-cruise configuration is optimal for medium ranges and structurally less complicated than tiltrotors.…”

Reducing Risks by Transporting Dangerous Cargo in Drones

“…Cargo drone developments show steadily increasing levels of automation, heavy-lift performance [3], cost reduction [4], and enhanced safety with distributed electric propulsion [5] and integrated parachute systems [6]. Fleets of cargo drones can fly continuously, autonomously, and quietly [7] to meet the freight throughput demands.…”