Design of a Blended Wing Body UAS With Hybrid Propulsion

Abstract

Student engineering teams developed a 3 m scale model aircraft, named Hyperion, inspired after the NASA-Boeing X48-B blended wing body to use as a test bed for advanced technical studies. The design concept includes a novel hybrid gas/biodiesel-electric power train as a green aircraft technology. The hybrid propulsion system allows for new concepts of operation in unmanned vehicles as it can operate in an internal combustion-only, electric-only, or hybrid mode. The aircraft is designed through a collaboration of 3 international universities: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Sydney, AUS, and the University of Stuttgart, GER. The Hyperion aircraft has a blended fuselage and wing to utilize advanced aircraft design and aerodynamic efficiency. The flying wing architecture is a fuel efficient platform to demonstrate the latest developments in ‘green’ aircraft technology. The optimal design requires a full systems engineering analysis, including aerodynamic and structural analysis of the vehicle; design of the flight mechanics, navigation, and control systems. The vehicle is fabricated primarily from composite materials. Hyperion’s unique architecture and advanced subsystems establish novel technologies that can be incorporated into UAV, General Aviation, and larger aircraft.

Implementation of a Hybrid Power Testbed Model of a Hybrid Electric Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

“…After the sizing and modeled simulation of the UAV/Aircraft a final aspect in the construction of a HE-UAV is to build a testbed that seamlessly integrate the hybrid powertrain components of the HE -UAV. Various researchers has attempted to build such tested from the literature [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. These were developed to validate the results obtained from the sizing of their HE-UAVs, and the results of numerical simulation models developed through a control strategy (energy management strategy) to optimize HE -UAVs performance for given mission profiles.…”

“…A helios aircraft was used as reference aircraft to retrofit the hybrid powertrain, and a flight test was performed. Another study was developed by Koster et al [22] designed a testbed to validate the design of a UAS with Hybrid propulsion system (Hyperion aircraft). The testbed and aircraft were developed to validate the simulation results obtained using controllers.…”

Review of Propulsion System Design Strategies for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

“…The papers of this last class were further subdivided into sub-classes, by considering the motor (35), the propeller (8), the battery (3), or another component (23). The papers in the class vehicle were related to the design of the whole vehicle at different levels, for example: Li in [7] presented a general optimal design method for solar-powered UAVs; Stepaniak in [24] described the design of a quadrotor UAV, which was used as a navigation sensor testbed; Nigro in [44] presented a preliminary study on a new concept of a fully actuated UAV, which can simultaneously modify the tilting angle of all the propellers; Koster in [69] presented a three-meter scale model aircraft, named Hyperion, developed by student engineering teams whose design concept included a novel hybrid gas/biodiesel-electric power train as a green aircraft technology. In the works that dealt with the propulsion system as a whole, very different themes were treated, and some examples are summarized below.…”

Hyperion - three years of novel aircraft design

“…The primary goal of the Hyperion Program was to test the handling characteristics and efficiency of a blended-wing-body aircraft, test efficiency of a CU patented electric-gas hybrid engine [1,2], and to determine if an autopilot system can be used to provide increased stability to an inherently unstable aerodynamic design. The program began in AY 2010-2011 as a multi-national graduate student project.…”