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

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...

Never landing drone: Autonomous soaring of a unmanned aerial vehicle in front of a moving obstacle

Increasing endurance is a major challenge for battery-powered aerial vehicles. A method is presented which makes use of an updraft around obstacles to decrease the power consumption of a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle. A soaring flight controller has been developed that can autonomously soar while the unmanned aerial vehicle keeps its...

Catalytic reforming of acetic acid as main primary tar compound from biomass updraft gasifiers: screening of suitable catalysts and operating conditions

Tar compounds have been defined as Achilles’ heel in biomass gasification. Catalytic reforming solves problems caused by tar by converting them into H₂ and CO. Most of the research has focused on secondary and tertiary tar reforming while some information on primary tar can be derived from bio-oil reforming. However, these studies...

Never Landing Drone

Increasing endurance is a major challenge for battery-powered aerial vehicles. A method is presented which makes use of an updraft around obstacles to decrease the power consumption of a fixed-wing, unmanned aerial vehicle. Simulatory results have shown the conditions that the flight controller can fly in.<br/>The effect of a change in wind...

Solar updraft tower - structural optimisation under dynamic wind action

A solar updraft tower is a type of power plant which uses solar irradiation to generate electricity. It consists of three elements: a solar air collector, wind turbines and a chimney. The proposed concepts for this chimney schematise it as a 1-km-tall reinforced concrete shell, which are vulnerable to resonance induced by storm actions. This...

Solar updraft tower - structural optimisation under dynamic wind action

As fossil fuel reserves are rapidly being depleted, sustainable alternatives have to be found to fulfil the world's energy demand. Numerous concepts have been proposed to generate electricity by harnessing renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power. One of these concepts is the the so-called solar updraft tower (SUT). The SUT consists...