Solar Powered Drones
Power Electronics
M. Geertjes (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
J.I. Spijkstra (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
Patrizio Manganiello (TU Delft - Photovoltaic Materials and Devices)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
Sustainable energy technologies are ever-increasing in popularity, not only among companies but also among consumers. Photovoltaic, or PV, cells are amongst the most well known in this field. This project was set up for designing a PV-powered UAV that is able to generate an albedo map of an area equal or bigger than the campus of the TU Delft in a single run. PV cells, however, are highly susceptible to changes in weather conditions and have a range of voltages at which these cells can supply power. Besides that, unnecessary losses occur if the so-called ’Maximum Power Point’ (MPP) is not tracked. In this thesis, a boost converter is proposed for the aforementioned system to implement the maximum power point tracking and supply the, by the PV system produced, power as efficiently as possible to the UAV power system.