Optimal Flight Planning for a Z-Shaped Morphing-Wing Solar-Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 497-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingjian Wu ◽  
Tianhang Xiao ◽  
Haisong Ang ◽  
Hongda Li
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Morphing Wing ◽  
Flight Planning ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Solar Powered

Parameter analysis of power system for solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle

2021 ◽  
Vol 295 ◽  
pp. 117031
Author(s):  
Chaoyu Zhang ◽  
Chengming Zhang ◽  
Liyi Li ◽  
Qingbo Guo
Keyword(s):  
Power System ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Parameter Analysis ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Solar Powered

Impact of N-Shaped Wing Morphing on Solar-Powered Aircraft

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Mostafa E. El-Salamony ◽  
Mohamed A. Aziz
Keyword(s):  
Solar Energy ◽  
Lift Coefficient ◽  
Morphing Wing ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Aircraft Performance ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Solar Powered ◽  
Two Parameters ◽  
Wing Morphing ◽  
The Impact

Generally, unmanned aerial vehicles and micro aerial vehicles depend on batteries or conventional fuel as a source of energy. These sources of energy have limited flight time, relatively high cost, and also a certain level of pollutants. Solar energy applied to aerial vehicles is an excellent alternative way to overcome other sources of energy’s disadvantage. This study aimed to design a solar-powered aerial vehicle to achieve continuous flight on Earth. The efficiency of the solar system is related to the absorbed sun rays. The concept of an anti-symmetric N-shaped morphing wing is a good idea to increase the collected solar energy during the daily sun path. But this comes with the penalty of side forces and moments due to the anti-symmetry of the wing. This paper introduces a study for two parameters that strongly affect the aerodynamics of the N-shaped morphing wing; the dihedral part angle and the dihedral part length. The impact of the dihedral angle decreases the lift coefficient and increases the drag coefficient. The impact of the morphing wing on the aircraft performance is also considered.

scholarly journals Design of a Hand-Launched Solar-Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) System for Plateau

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 1300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Zhao ◽  
Zhou Zhou ◽  
Xiaoping Zhu ◽  
An Guo
Keyword(s):  
Low Temperature ◽  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Structure Design ◽  
Control Law ◽  
Trajectory Tracking Control ◽  
Plateau Area ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Solar Powered

This paper describes our work on a small, hand-launched, solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) suitable for low temperatures and high altitudes, which has the perpetual flight potential for conservation missions for rare animals in the plateau area in winter. Firstly, the conceptual design method of a small, solar-powered UAV based on energy balance is proposed, which is suitable for flight in high-altitude and low-temperature area. The solar irradiance model, which can reflect the geographical location and time, was used. Based on the low-temperature discharge test of the battery, a battery weight model considering the influence of low temperature on the battery performance was proposed. Secondly, this paper introduces the detailed design of solar UAV for plateau area, including layout design, structure design, load, and avionics. To increase the proportion of solar cells covered, the ailerons were removed and a rudder was used to control both roll and yaw. Then, the dynamics model of an aileron-free layout UAV was developed, and the differences in maneuverability and stability of aileron-free UAV in plateau and plain areas were analyzed. The control law and trajectory tracking control law were designed for the aileron-free UAV. Finally, the flight test was conducted in Qiangtang, Tibet, at an altitude of 4500 m, China’s first solar-powered UAV to take off and land above 4500 m on the plateau in winter (−30 °C). The test data showed the success of the scheme, validated the conceptual design method and the success of the control system for aileron-free UAV, and analyzed the feasibility of perpetual flight carrying different loads according to the flight energy consumption data.

Design and development of solar powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for surveying, mapping and disaster relief

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Karthik ◽  
S. Usha ◽  
B. Predeep ◽  
G. R. Sai Saran ◽  
G. Sridhar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Disaster Relief ◽  
Design And Development ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Solar Powered

scholarly journals Computational optimal launching control for balloon-borne solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles in near-space

2019 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 003685041987775 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanpeng Hu ◽  
Yanping Yang ◽  
Xiaoping Ma ◽  
Shu Li
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Pitch Angle ◽  
Control Variable ◽  
Maximum Speed ◽  
Near Space ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Axial Acceleration ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Solar Powered

The near-space solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle has broad prospects in application owing to its high altitude long-endurance performance. Launching solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle into the near-space with balloon-borne approach has advantages over the traditional sliding take-off methods, in that it is able to quickly and safely cross the turbulent zone. In this article, we investigate the control technology of balloon-borne launching for the solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles. First, the motion of the launching process is divided into longitudinal and lateral-directional motion, with the longitudinal process and its equation addressed in detail. We then analyze the flight state and restriction conditions that the unmanned aerial vehicle should meet during the process. Second, the target variables and constraints are selected to formulate the optimization problem. The control variable parameterization method is applied to find the optimal pitch angle in the releasing-and-pulling process. More explicitly, a three-channel attitude stabilization controller is designed, in which the longitudinal channel takes the optimal pitch angle as the pitch instruction, the transverse channel carries out the zero control of the inclination angle, and the course channel takes the stabilization control, respectively. Numerical simulation results show that our proposed control design is capable of accelerating the solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles from the vertical state and pulling them up to the horizontal cruising flight state, with the flight angle of attack, the maximum speed, and the maximum axial acceleration in the pulling process all within the designed range.

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