Conceptual design of long-endurance small solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle with multiple tilts and hovers

Xiao Cao, Li Liu*, Jiahao Ge, Dun Yang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper presents an overall scheme of a long-endurance small solar-powered convertible unmanned aerial vehicle (CUAV) that operates tilt-rotor for multiple hover tasks. First, a solar/battery hybrid energy strategy was proposed to comprehensively meet the requirements of CUAVs with long endurance and multiple hovers. The particular ability of the solar-powered fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), pure battery-powered CUAV, and the proposed long-endurance solar-powered CUAV with multiple cruises and hovers were comparatively analyzed from an energy standpoint. Second, a suitable conceptual design method and process for small solar-powered CUAV was given, and the robustness of the designed CUAV was using three performance metrics under nominal conditions. The approach was then applied to design a 6.5 kg CUAV, which was initially tested in flight. Finally, the performance and application potential of the designed CUAV was evaluated with operating conditions, mission requirements, energy input, and perpetual flight capability.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3185-3201
Number of pages17
JournalProceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume237
Issue number14
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2023

Keywords

  • conceptual design
  • convertible unmanned aerial vehicle
  • hybrid energy strategy
  • multiple hovers
  • solar-powered

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Conceptual design of long-endurance small solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle with multiple tilts and hovers'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this