PV System Design and Flight Efficiency Considerations for Fixed-Wing Radio-Controlled Aircraft—A Case Study
The list of photovoltaic (PV) applications grows longer every day with high consideration for system efficiency. For instance, in spite of many recent PV aircraft designs, aircraft propulsion was mainly reserved for nonelectric motors. Lately, the Solar Impulse flight across the world shows the poss...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2018-10-01
|
| Series: | Energies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/10/2648 |
| _version_ | 1798042376772517888 |
|---|---|
| author | Bojan Kranjec Sasa Sladic Wojciech Giernacki Neven Bulic |
| author_facet | Bojan Kranjec Sasa Sladic Wojciech Giernacki Neven Bulic |
| author_sort | Bojan Kranjec |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The list of photovoltaic (PV) applications grows longer every day with high consideration for system efficiency. For instance, in spite of many recent PV aircraft designs, aircraft propulsion was mainly reserved for nonelectric motors. Lately, the Solar Impulse flight across the world shows the possibilities of larger PV powered electric aircraft. In order to obtain this goal efficiency of flight, PV conversion, power converters and electric drives have to be maximized. These demands led to a 63.4 m wingspan. The purpose of this paper is to present that PV power could be used for improving the performance of fixed-wing radio-controlled aircrafts with smaller wingspans (1 m). In order to improve the performance of battery powered electric unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), a model without PV cells (commercial Li-ion battery powered UAV) was compared with UAV powered both from battery and PV modules. This work shows details about Boost DC/DC converter and PV system design for small size fixed-wing electric UAVs, investigating the possibility of the application of PV powered drones, as well. Theoretical findings involving efficiency improvements have been confirmed by measurements combining the improvements in electrical engineering, microcontroller application and aerodynamics. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T22:34:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4683764bb0e94b2388871894549f667f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T22:34:38Z |
| publishDate | 2018-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-4683764bb0e94b2388871894549f667f2022-12-22T03:59:14ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732018-10-011110264810.3390/en11102648en11102648PV System Design and Flight Efficiency Considerations for Fixed-Wing Radio-Controlled Aircraft—A Case StudyBojan Kranjec0Sasa Sladic1Wojciech Giernacki2Neven Bulic3Faculty of Engineering, University of Rijeka, Vukovarska 58, 51000 Rijeka, CroatiaFaculty of Engineering, University of Rijeka, Vukovarska 58, 51000 Rijeka, CroatiaInstitute of Control, Robotics and Information Engineering, University of Technology, Piotrowo 3a, 60-965 Poznań, PolandFaculty of Engineering, University of Rijeka, Vukovarska 58, 51000 Rijeka, CroatiaThe list of photovoltaic (PV) applications grows longer every day with high consideration for system efficiency. For instance, in spite of many recent PV aircraft designs, aircraft propulsion was mainly reserved for nonelectric motors. Lately, the Solar Impulse flight across the world shows the possibilities of larger PV powered electric aircraft. In order to obtain this goal efficiency of flight, PV conversion, power converters and electric drives have to be maximized. These demands led to a 63.4 m wingspan. The purpose of this paper is to present that PV power could be used for improving the performance of fixed-wing radio-controlled aircrafts with smaller wingspans (1 m). In order to improve the performance of battery powered electric unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), a model without PV cells (commercial Li-ion battery powered UAV) was compared with UAV powered both from battery and PV modules. This work shows details about Boost DC/DC converter and PV system design for small size fixed-wing electric UAVs, investigating the possibility of the application of PV powered drones, as well. Theoretical findings involving efficiency improvements have been confirmed by measurements combining the improvements in electrical engineering, microcontroller application and aerodynamics.http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/10/2648transportUAVenergyphotovoltaic (PV)power converter |
| spellingShingle | Bojan Kranjec Sasa Sladic Wojciech Giernacki Neven Bulic PV System Design and Flight Efficiency Considerations for Fixed-Wing Radio-Controlled Aircraft—A Case Study Energies transport UAV energy photovoltaic (PV) power converter |
| title | PV System Design and Flight Efficiency Considerations for Fixed-Wing Radio-Controlled Aircraft—A Case Study |
| title_full | PV System Design and Flight Efficiency Considerations for Fixed-Wing Radio-Controlled Aircraft—A Case Study |
| title_fullStr | PV System Design and Flight Efficiency Considerations for Fixed-Wing Radio-Controlled Aircraft—A Case Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | PV System Design and Flight Efficiency Considerations for Fixed-Wing Radio-Controlled Aircraft—A Case Study |
| title_short | PV System Design and Flight Efficiency Considerations for Fixed-Wing Radio-Controlled Aircraft—A Case Study |
| title_sort | pv system design and flight efficiency considerations for fixed wing radio controlled aircraft a case study |
| topic | transport UAV energy photovoltaic (PV) power converter |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/10/2648 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bojankranjec pvsystemdesignandflightefficiencyconsiderationsforfixedwingradiocontrolledaircraftacasestudy AT sasasladic pvsystemdesignandflightefficiencyconsiderationsforfixedwingradiocontrolledaircraftacasestudy AT wojciechgiernacki pvsystemdesignandflightefficiencyconsiderationsforfixedwingradiocontrolledaircraftacasestudy AT nevenbulic pvsystemdesignandflightefficiencyconsiderationsforfixedwingradiocontrolledaircraftacasestudy |