Preliminary design and performance analysis of a solar-powered unmanned seaplane

Liang, Bin; Wang, Gaofeng; Huang, Zhiyi; Ye, Shangjun

doi:10.1177/0954410019852572

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(37 reference statements)

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“…According to equation (15), if minimum mass is 250 kg, minimum cruise speed is 22.5 m/s, which is acceptable for most of the latitudes in summer in the northern hemisphere (Figure 5).…”

Section: Forecastmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Daily endurance of solar-powered seaplane as a function of date and latitude was investigated by Lou. 15 Implications on the size of low altitude solar-powered UAV design for different cities were explored by Rajendran and Smith. 16 Advances in solar cells and battery technologies were surveyed by many authors such as Safyanu, 17 Abbe and Smith, 18 Rajendran and Smith, 19 and Gao et al 20 In this work, solar aircraft energy balance is evaluated and technological forecasts are synthesized in order to assess potential temporal and geographical limitations of HAPS.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Preliminary design and technology forecast synthesis for solar-powered high altitude aircraft

Mukhachev

Padalitsa

Ivanov

2022

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G:

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High altitude long endurance solar aircraft is a very attractive platform for applications ranging from remote sensing to telecommunication. In contrast to conventional aircraft, the operation of solar-powered one is highly dependent on available solar enengy, which imposes strong constraints on total takeoff mass, and, thus, energy balance becomes dependent on the season and latitude of planned operations. Despite tremendous success in many projects from Helios to Zephyr, energy balance at high altitudes is still not favorable in a range of latitudes and seasons. In this study, a design space for a solar-powered aircraft mission, constrained by its energy balance is explored. It is found that the tradeoff that should be made between seasonal and spatial capabilities for continuous flight of a solar-powered aircraft. The influence of key technologies on solar aircraft perpetual flight capabilities in different regions and seasons is identified. To do that, solar cell efficiency and energy storage specific energy are considered as design parameters in range of available forecasts. In the end, available technology forecasts are synthesized on the precision agriculture case to show which technological level is required to make 6 moths mission possible.

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“…According to equation (15), if minimum mass is 250 kg, minimum cruise speed is 22.5 m/s, which is acceptable for most of the latitudes in summer in the northern hemisphere (Figure 5).…”

Section: Forecastmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary design and technology forecast synthesis for solar-powered high altitude aircraft

Mukhachev

Padalitsa

Ivanov

2022

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G:

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“…Due to the high altitude at which many airplanes operate, and many relatively flat areas they provide, PV technologies are thus considered as an interesting option for power generation. Studies of solar-powered airplanes have demonstrated that sufficient energy can be generated to operate on solar energy alone, and over extended periods of time, small unmanned and manned aircraft [ 178 , 187 , 190 , 191 , 192 ]. Other studies have demonstrated that solar power has the potential to supply the needed electricity on commercial planes during the entire flight, which is of the order of hundreds of watts [ 181 , 182 ].…”

Section: Photovoltaic Energy Harvesting Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Harvesting Technologies for Structural Health Monitoring of Airplane Components—A Review

Zelenika

Hadaš

Bader

et al. 2020

Sensors

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With the aim of increasing the efficiency of maintenance and fuel usage in airplanes, structural health monitoring (SHM) of critical composite structures is increasingly expected and required. The optimized usage of this concept is subject of intensive work in the framework of the EU COST Action CA18203 “Optimising Design for Inspection” (ODIN). In this context, a thorough review of a broad range of energy harvesting (EH) technologies to be potentially used as power sources for the acoustic emission and guided wave propagation sensors of the considered SHM systems, as well as for the respective data elaboration and wireless communication modules, is provided in this work. EH devices based on the usage of kinetic energy, thermal gradients, solar radiation, airflow, and other viable energy sources, proposed so far in the literature, are thus described with a critical review of the respective specific power levels, of their potential placement on airplanes, as well as the consequently necessary power management architectures. The guidelines provided for the selection of the most appropriate EH and power management technologies create the preconditions to develop a new class of autonomous sensor nodes for the in-process, non-destructive SHM of airplane components.

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“…Once the buoyancy point moves to the center of gravity of the aircraft, the pitch angle and water resistance reach peak values, forming an initial resistance peak, then both gradually decrease. The speed in this stage is between 25% and 50% of the takeoff velocity [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Optimization Method for Improving Efficiency of Electric Propulsion System of Electric Seaplane

et al. 2023

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The takeoff process of a seaplane is different from that of a conventional land-based plane owing to the influence of hydrostatic, hydrodynamic, and aerodynamic forces. As a result, more energy will be consumed by the electric propulsion unit (EPU) of a seaplane during takeoff. Given the limited energy density of contemporary batteries, the energy consumed by the seaplane during its flight mission profile was minimized in this study by improving the efficiency of the EPU using a proposed optimization method. To meet the performance requirements of the seaplane EPU, the pitch angle of the propeller was taken as the optimization variable and the system loss was mathematically modeled. The performance of the EPU was thereby optimized, its consumption during flight was reduced, and the seaplane endurance was increased accordingly. The proposed optimization method was subsequently verified using a prototype test of a twoseat electric seaplane. The results show that the proposed method can reduce the energy consumption of the EPU by more than 5% during a single flight. INDEX TERMSElectric seaplane, electric propulsion unit (EPU), energy efficiency optimization, prototype test. NOMENCLATURE ρ Air density. C T Propeller thrust coefficient. β Propeller power coefficient. S Wing area. C D Aerodynamic drag coefficient. C L Aerodynamic lift coefficient of the aircraft. c r Water friction resistance coefficient. ρ w Water density. B Float width. N P Number of floats. EPU Electric propulsion unit. θ Pitch angle.The associate editor coordinating the review of this manuscript and approving it for publication was Adamu Murtala Zungeru .

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Preliminary design and performance analysis of a solar-powered unmanned seaplane

Cited by 7 publications

References 30 publications

Preliminary design and technology forecast synthesis for solar-powered high altitude aircraft

Preliminary design and technology forecast synthesis for solar-powered high altitude aircraft

Energy Harvesting Technologies for Structural Health Monitoring of Airplane Components—A Review

An Optimization Method for Improving Efficiency of Electric Propulsion System of Electric Seaplane

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