Feasibility of using electric drone main rotors for electricity generation vs. solar panels for indefinite flight

Feasibility of using electric drone main rotors for electricity generation vs. solar panels for indefinite flight

Dvorsky, Nicholas (TU Delft Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)

Zaaijer, M B (mentor)
de Croon, G.C.H.E. (graduation committee)
Schmehl, R. (graduation committee)
Remes, B.D.W. (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

Electrical Engineering | Sustainable Energy Technology

Never landing drone

2021-05-07

An idea was proposed to allow an autonomous drone to have indefinite flight times over the ocean by applying renewable energy technologies and theory to generate electricity in flight. This is considered less as a way to save energy, but to permit the use of such a drone from a ship not capable of safely retrieving it. One novel component of this idea is to use the wind updraft created by the motion of a ship or natural air currents as the wind source for an on-board turbine generator. The second component is to use the existing drive system as the on-board turbine in a 'hybrid rotor' design to reduce the need for extra parts and complexity. This report analyzes the potential for such a system compared to a more intuitive airborne solar system, and to the combination of both concepts. While indefinite flight time is paramount, the goal is to maximize the "mission" time to charge/idle time ratio. The process for determining fitness is a simulation of the aircraft flying on its mission and charging when needed (and if possible) for a full year for varying designs of aircraft and rotor. The results of all the tests show that the main idea is infeasible because not enough energy can be generated from the inefficient propeller and the updrafts are insufficient and inconsistent. The alternatives of solar and combined power systems function better but are still subject to high failure rates. The most promising system is to use a separate turbine and propeller and also include solar panels to achieve the most effectiveness both when in powered flight and while charging. This constitutes a compromise on the 'hybrid rotor' part of the idea. The conclusion of this report is that further improvements to the design and control of the most successful configuration are possible could result in a fully functional system.

Drone
Range Improvement
soaring
static
Solar
Turbine
updraft
Endurance

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:5aa0ed78-c775-4a1b-a0ab-5145f85e5e9d

2022-04-01

Student theses

master thesis

© 2021 Nicholas Dvorsky