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(project proposal)
Abstract: Autonomous Electric Aircraft using no Fuel (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle UAV) Propeller powered electric UAV takes off on batteries and actively searches for updrafts. After encountering an updraft the UAV switches of the propulsion electric motor and soars. Air passing through the propeller during soaring revolves it and the movement is transmitted to the electric motor. Electro motor works as a generator in this mode. The produced energy recharges batteries and powers the electric equipment of the UAV. Energy gain is improved using solar power. The proposed UAV can stay aloft for long (indefinite) periods of time and can be used in reconnaissance and other applications. The control system of the UAV is responsible for autonomous behavior (searching for updrafts, optimization of flight trajectory with regard to the mission objective and power management, solving critical situations, etc.) and for implementation of the human issued commands.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction............................................................................................................................................2 1.1 Outline of the Idea..........................................................................................................................2 1.2 Regenerative Soaring.....................................................................................................................3 1.3 Electric Aircrafts............................................................................................................................4 1.4 Features, Equipment and Instruments of the Proposed UAV........................................................5 1.5 Functions of the Control System....................................................................................................6 2 Feasibility Analysis................................................................................................................................7 2.1 The Aircraft....................................................................................................................................7 2.2 Energy Balance...............................................................................................................................9 2.2.1 Self Launch and Climb to 300m...........................................................................................11 2.2.2 Cruise for 20 minutes in search for updrafts........................................................................11 2.2.3 Recharge batteries to full capacity .......................................................................................12 2.2.4 Cruise till 50% of the battery capacity remains....................................................................12 2.2.5 Recharge batteries to full capacity and land.........................................................................13 2.2.6 Conclusion, energy balance..................................................................................................14 2.3 AI and Control System.................................................................................................................15 3 Estimated Project Impact.....................................................................................................................16
1 Introduction
1.1 Outline of the Idea
We propose an electric unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable to take-off and fly using electric motor and to land with fully charged batteries. Batteries of the UAV are recharged by regenerative soaring and solar power. The UAV is expected to stay aloft for a long time (hours and possibly days). During the time aloft the UAV searches autonomously for updrafts, optimizes flight trajectory with regard to the mission objectives and power management, solves critical situations and responds to human issued instructions. The instructions are expected to be defined as partial and general objectives instead of detailed commands. The advantages of the UAV are the following: quiet and clean fossil fuel independent very low operational cost can potentially remain aloft indefinitely "parked" in air when not in use has interesting application potential study for manned regenerative soaring aircraft The possible applications include: Long time surveillance of road traffic, traffic jams avoidance Bird eye view during rescue operations or catastrophic events Search for missing persons at sea (flock of UAV's to cover large areas) Transponding radio signals in mountainous areas Following migrant birds, marine mammals etc. Weather forecast and study Many of the ongoing projects of electric aircrafts are aimed on high altitude solar powered UAV's. These try to avoid weather in order to get maximum exposure to sun and to protect their fragile lightweight construction. The UAV proposed here should operate in low altitudes in visual contact with the surface of Earth and take advantage of the vertical atmospheric motions.
Traditional sailplanes utilize updrafts to stay aloft and travel. In the typical scenario the sailplane searches for an updraft after initial climb (tow, self launch ), gains altitude by circling in an updraft and then glides in direction of the intended destination. Two important parameters the sailplane's performance are minimum sink rate and glide ratio. Minimum sink rate determines how fast will the sailplane gain altitude and the glide ratio (usually expressed as X :1, meaning the sailplane will glide to the distance of X kilometers if starting 1km above ground) determines how good will the sailplane utilize the gained altitude. Most of the updrafts used by sailplanes are either thermal columns or upwind slope lifts.
Thermal columns (thermals) are basically bubbles of rising warm air which was warmed over sun irradiated surfaces. Upwind slope lift arises when air is forced to flow over an obstacle. It is also possible to apply dynamic soaring technique used by many migrant birds and remote control pilots. This technique uses the change of wind speed in the wind profile close to surface to gain energy. Albatrosses travel almost effortlessly thousands of kilometers in any direction using dynamic soaring. However, this technique requires to make sharp, high speed maneuvers close to the ground. Regenerative soaring feature is easily added to most of the Illustration 3: Upwind slope lift self launching sailplanes. In this case the propeller (or propellers) serves as a wind turbine while flying in the updraft. Because of the increased drag during regen the aircraft can not climb as fast as a clean sailplane but the energy generated by the turbine can be stored for future use. The most common means to store the energy are batteries, pinwheels, springs or twisted rubber bands. This energy can be used for free or emergency cruising, for new start and climb or to power devices on board of the aircraft. In the optimal case the aircraft will fly entirely without fuel or recharging on the ground.
Illustration 5: Sunseeker II
hydrogen-air fuel cell. Sunseeker II was as of Dec, 2008 the only manned solar powered airplane in flying condition. In 2009 it became the first solarpowered aircraft to cross the Alps. Its solar array charges Li-Polymer battery powering a 6kW electro motor. Max speed on solar power is 64kph. Sunseeker II takes advantage of thermals if possible. Several self launching electric sailplanes are available on the market, e.g. Antares 20E of Lange Aviation. Antares 20E is equipped with 42kW electric motor. It climbs to 3000 meters in app. 13 minutes when the batteries are depleted. Electric aircrafts slowly start to appear also as commercial products. Electric Aircraft Corporation [1] produces
two types of electric aircrafts: rigid wing Electraflyer-C and Electraflyer trike (motor hang glider with Stratus wing [3]). Their lithium-polymer battery pack with capacity 5.6kWh lasts for 1-1.5 hours flying. The electric motor used is 13.5kW brushless motor with 90% efficiency. Further examples of electric aircrafts are described in Chapter 2 Feasibility Analysis.
Other equipment:
Avionics and Instruments (digital): GPS altimeter airspeed indicator rate-of-climb indicator (variometer) attitude indicator (gyro horizon) turn coordinator indicators (battery, g-force, fire, stall, landing aids etc.) Force feedback (aerodynamic load on the steering surfaces) Diagnostic system Radio receiver: for data and commands Cameras and optional sensing devices Video and data transmission system Control computer
Special devices:
2 Feasibility Analysis
2.1 The Aircraft
We have chosen SWIFT rigid wing hang glider produced by Belgium based firm Ariane as an candidate aircraft [2]. It was designed by Bright Star Gliders in collaboration with engineers at Stanford University The SWIFT is a high performance sailplane, designed to combine some of the convenience of hang gliders with the soaring performance of sailplanes. It takes off and lands like a hang glider, yet maintains exceptional performance at high speeds, achieving a lift-to-drag ratio of about 25:1. Although it is a fully-cantilevered rigid wing with aerodynamic controls and flaps, it weighs only 48 kg and is easily transported on the top of a car. It is sold in many countries including Japan. Ariane produces also engine Illustration 7: SWIFT rigid wing hang glider kit (with combustion engine) which is easy to adapt to a standard SWIFT frame (with steerable front wheel, disk brake, wheeled tiplets for taxing). The optional equipment of SWIFT includes rocket parachute and car roof transportation container. Instead of human pilot the payload of the aircraft will consist of lithiumpolymer battery pack (5.6kWh [1]), brushless electric motor (13.5kW [1]), solar array, electric equipment (control computer, servos, radio transmission system etc.) and other equipment used for adaptation of the aircraft. Table 1 summarizes the specifications of the SWIFT with the proposed adaptations. The estimated payload weights approximately as much as an average pilot. The propulsion system is taken from Electraflyer trike [1] which weights 112kg empty and approximately 200kg with a pilot. This ensures that the UAV will be sufficiently powered. In fact, human pilot can be on board of the aircraft during initial Illustration 8: SWIFT with engine kit experiments, observing the behavior of the control system, making measurements and ensuring safe operation. The motor and the propeller will enable to climb at estimated rate of 1ms -1. The propulsion system of Electraflyer trike is sold also adapted for regenerative soaring [2]. It will be necessary to develop a new propeller optimized
for regenerative soaring. The commercially available propellers are optimized to provide maximum trust. The propeller for our purpose should be optimized to work also as a turbine with high efficiency which among other requires symmetrical blades sections [4]. Optional features of the propeller include adjustable pitch and collapsibility. Glide ratio (best, at 75km/h) [2] Minimum sink rate (at 45km/h) [2] Never exceed speed (VNE) [2] Climb rate (estimated) Wing area [2] Maximum load [2] Weight empty [2] Payload total:
battery pack (5.6kWh [1]) el. motor (13.5kW [1]) solar array 1 electric equipment other
24:1 0.65ms-1 120 km/h 1ms-1 12.5m2 +5.3g/-2.65g tested +7.95g/-3.98g 48kg 74kg
35kg 12kg 10kg 7kg 10kg
1 With installation aids and accessories 2 Does not include electric equipment developed during the project 3 Includes: motor, electronic controller, power dial and switch, fuse, connectors, ammeter and shunt, voltmeter, custom machined propeller hub, and digital motor temperature display with probe 4 Development, design, manufacture costs - estimated 5 Development, design, manufacture costs - estimated
Battery pack [1] Average powered flight time [1] Electric motor [1] Average energy consumption rate motor Equipment input Propeller efficiency (turbine mode) Electric motor efficiency (generator mode) Charger efficiency Generator output in regen [4] Solar power per m2 max [5] Solar cells surface Solar array output - max Solar array output - cruising Solar array output - regen Sink rate total in regen [2]
Table 2: Values and estimates used for calculation.
5.6kWh (20.2MJ) 1.5 hour 13.5kW, 90% efficient 3.7kW 150W 85% 90% 80% 687W 150W 10m2 1500W 1050W 600W 1.4ms-1
Time spent = 5 minutes Power (Watt) 1050 0 -150 -3733 -1197 -4030 6% 6% Energy (Joule) 315000 0 -45000 -1120000 -359046 -1209046
Time spent = 20 minutes Power (Watt) 1050 0 -150 -3733 0 -2833 17% 23% Energy (Joule) 1260000 0 -180000 -4480000 0 -3400000
Time spent = 85 minutes Power (Watt) 600 687 -150 0 NA 1137 909 -23% 0% Energy (Joule) 3041135 3480455 -760283 0 NA 5761307 4609046
Time spent = 59 minutes Power (Watt) 1050 0 -150 -3733 0 -2833 50% 50% Energy (Joule) 3735529 0 -533647 -13281882 0 -10080000
A grand challenge for the aircraft would be to stay aloft during the nighttime when two important sources of energy vanish: sun and thermal updrafts. UAV could still use upwind slopes and dynamic soaring. Using upwind slopes for lift would require reliable ground analysis of atmospheric conditions (information on wind speed and direction used to model air motion in a 3D map of the operation area). Dynamic soaring requires precise flight control in sharp low altitude maneuvers (20-150m over ground) and a reasonably small and sturdy aircraft (dynamic soaring is often used by RC pilots).
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank to the following people who contributed to the project proposal by providing advice and consultation: Phil Barnes is Principal Engineer at Northrop Grumman Corporation. He has a Masters Degree in Aerospace Engineering from Cal Poly Pomona and a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arizona. He has 25-years of experience in the performance analysis and computer modeling of aerospace vehicles and subsystems at Northrop Grumman. Phil has authored technical papers on aerodynamics, gears, and flight mechanics. Phil Barnes is the author of the paper Flight Without Fuel - Regenerative Soaring Feasibility Study [4]
Randall Fishman is the president of Electric Aircraft Corporation. He has won numerous awards and accolades for his work on electric flight and already has built an electric-powered ultralight and a single-seat motorglider. In April 2007 the Electric Aircraft Corporation began offering complete electric ultralights and engine kits under the ElectraFlyer brand name, to convert existing ultralight aircraft to electric power, in what is the first commercial offering of an electric aircraft.
Jukka Tervamaki graduated from the Helsinki University of Technology in 1963 specialized in Aeronautical Engineering. Experimenting, creating, designing and building has been everyday work as well as a hobby for him for four decades. He designed and build several rotary wing aircrafts (autogyros), a motor glider and cooperated on development of a fixed wing tow plane. He has logged total 2200 flight hours of which 150 hours in autogyros. He is aviation writer for several Finnish and foreign aviation magazines.
Sources:
[1] Electric Aircraft Corporation, http://www.electraflyer.com/, email correspondence with Randall Fishman, president of Electric Aircraft Corporation [2] Ariane SWIFT rigid wing hang glider http://www.aeriane.com [3] Northwing, Stratus, http://www.northwing.com/ [4] Philip Barnes - Pelican Aero Group, Flight Without Fuel - Regenerative Soaring Feasibility Study, presented at General Aviation Technology Conference & Exhibition, August 2006, Wichita, KS, USA, Session: Propulsion Dynamics and Advanced Engine Concepts, http://www.sae.org/technical/papers/2006-01-2422, email correspondence with Philip Barnes. [5] NASA Dryden Fact Sheet - Pathfinder Solar-Powered Aircraft http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/ news/FactSheets/FS-034-DFRC.html; [6] The Worlds Air Sports Federation http://records.fai.org/, as of Oct. 26 2009. [7] J. Wharington, I. Herszberg (1998), 'Control of High Endurance unmanned air vehicle', Proc. 21st Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Rodney S. Thomson & Murray L. Scott, eds., AIAA Electronic Publication - CD ROM, ISBN:1-56347-287-2 98-1141, (ICAS '98, 1318 Sept. '98 - RMIT Fishermen's Bend, Melb. Vic.) [8] Allen, Michael J. (2005) Autonomous Soaring for Improved Endurance of a Small Uninhabited Air Vehicle. Meeting Presentation AIAA-2005-1025, Research Engineering, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. http://dtrs.dfrc.nasa.gov/archive/00001168/ [9] Guidance and control for an autonomous soaring UAV, United States Patent 7431243