• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.48 no.12
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• pp.969-976
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• 2020

Urban Air Mobility is attracting attention as a future innovation industry around the world, and leading industries are considering the application of composite materials for structural robustness and lightening in the designing and manufacturing new concept eVTOL aircraft. To apply composite materials to the new concept of eVTO aircraft, this paper was analyzed about composite material qualification system of FAA & EASA and institutionalized by Korea Government, including the procedures and methods, the organization to carry out the material verification for domestic conditions. The domestic composite material qualification system will not only make it easier for manufacturers of eVTOL aircraft with a new concept to apply composite materials to domestic aircraft through pre-material qualification, but also reduce the burden of material qualification within the period of type certification. In addition, domestic manufacturers of composite materials with qualified material quality and performance will be easy to enter for domestic aircraft applications and composite material manufacturers with experience in applying to aircraft will have a positive impact on overseas exports. This system will be able to promote the development eVTOL aircraft industry of a new concept and enhance international credibility of made aircraft in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.49 no.12
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• pp.1011-1018
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• 2021

This numerical study conducts the modeling and the hover performance analyses of coaxial co-rotating rotor(or stacked rotor), using a rotorcraft comprehensive analysis code, CAMRAD II. The important design parameters such as the index angle and axial spacing for the coaxial co-rotating rotor are varied in this simulation study. The coaxial co-rotating rotor is trimmed using the torque value of the upper rotor of the previous coaxial counter-rotating rotor or the total thrust value of the previous coaxial counter-rotating rotor in hover. The maximum increases in the rotor thrust is 1.84% for the index angle of -10° when using the torque trim approach. In addition, the maximum decreases in the rotor power is 4.53% for the index angle of 20° with the thrust trim method. Thus, the present study shows that the hover performance of the coaxial co-rotating rotor for e-VTOL aircraft can be changed by the index angle.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.74-81
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• 2021

UAM(Urban Air Mobility) systems have evolved in the form of helicopters in the 1960~1970s, tiltrotors in the 1980s, small aircraft transportation systems in the 2000s, and electric-powered Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) in the 2010s; accordingly, the early heliport has evolved to its current form of a Vertiport. Vertical Takeoff and Landing Sites, Vertiports, are important factors for the successful introduction of UAM, along with the resolution of air traffic control (ATC), air security, and noise problems. However, there are no domestic or international installation standards and guidelines yet. Therefore, in this study, installation standards were prepared by referring to domestic and international case studies, ICAO standards, and MIT research papers. The study proposes to establish standards for Final Approach and Takeoff Area (FATO) as 1.5D, 1D for Touchdown and Lift-Off Area (TLOF), and 1.5D for Safety Area (SA). It also proposes to add "UAM Vertiport Installation Standards" to the 「Act on the Promotion and Foundation of Drone Utilization, Drone Act」.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.233-241
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• 2021

As increasing the feasibility of the eVTOL UAM(electric vertical take-off and landing urban air mobility), numerous corporations and laboratories are conducting researches. In the aircraft development process, estimating the cost of the aircraft is essential part in terms of budgeting and commercial viability analysis. However, it is difficult to predict the cost of an eVTOL UAM owing to various configurations and little open cost information. This paper presents a novel method to predict the vehicle cost of various eVTOL configurations by modifying previous studies of the aircraft cost estimation. A vehicle cost of Wisk Cora is calculated by the presented method as an example to illuminate the method. The method is indirectly validated by comparing the vehicle costs of six representative eVTOL aircraft with those from the UAM study reports.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2019

To improve an aerodynamic characteristic of the eVOTL aircraft, Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) performed a validity test of the cross-rotating propeller technology. First, CFD analysis was carried out and an idea of the cross-rotating propeller to imply on a multi-copter confirmed with a commerce pitch control multi-copter that has two different blades, 0.11 and 0.21 m. After verifying the idea, a multi-copter with about 3 kg maximum take-off weight (MTOW) was custom designed to complete a ground test to measure thrust and noise. The test was performed with 15 and 22 in. propellers at the identical tip speed. The test results show that the 22 in. propeller with the cross-rotating technology required about 30 % less power and reduced 3~5 dB aerodynamic noise as compared to 15 in. propeller without cross-rotating.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.593-599
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• 2021

The demand for e-VTOL aircraft is expected to be increased rapidly in the future as a means of urban transportation due to operating cost reduction, eco-friendliness and convenience of vertical take-off and landing using pilot-aids automation system. However, there are many technical hurdles to be solved in securing safety and certification which are essential for commercialization and urban operation. So far, there is no e-VTOL aircraft that has received type certificate and standard airworthiness certificate due to the technical problems and safety requirement differences with conventional aircraft. The e-VTOL aircraft certification should also meet the equivalent level of safety required by the current airworthiness standards, but there are existing problems in securing safety and meeting current standards. In this study, the e-VTOL's certification problems and technical limitations in satisfying the current standards are presented.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.73-84
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• 2020

To overcome ground congestions due to growing number of cars, a lot of companies have proposed personal aerial vehicle (PAV). Among PAV, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircrafts capable of vertical take-off and landing with electric power are drawing attention, and their configurations vary from multicopters to tilt ducted fans. This study tries to analyze the characteristics of each eVTOL design configurations. Parasite drag was calculated using component build up method for Vahana, Aurora, Volocopter representing each eVTOL PAV type of tilt-wing, compound, and multicopter. Wetted area and induced drag was calculated using OpenVSP and XFLR5 that are aircraft design and aerodynamic analysis software. The batteries used in the eVTOL PAV was assumed as Tesla 2170 batteries and flight ranges were calculated. Also, energy consumption and maximum flight time for the given mission profile including take-off and landing, cruising segments were compared for each eVTOL.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.50 no.9
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• pp.599-608
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• 2022

Urban air mobility (UAM) equipped with rotor system is subject to ground effect at vertiport during takeoff and landing. The aerodynamic performance of the aircraft in ground effect should be analyzed for the safe operation. In this study, The ground effects on the aerodynamic performance and wake structure of the quadcopter electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) configuration equipped with coaxial counter-rotating propellers were investigated by using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The influence of the ground effect was observed differently in the upper and lower propellers of the coaxial counter-rotating propeller system. There was no significant change in the aerodynamic performance of the upper propeller even if the propeller height above the ground was changed, whereas the averaged thrust and torque of the lower propeller increased significantly as propeller height decreased. In addition, the amplitude of the thrust fluctuation tended to increase as the propeller height decreased. The propeller wake was not sufficiently propagated downstream and was diffused along the ground due to the outwash flow developed by the ground effect. The impingement of the rotor wakes on the ground and a fountain vortex structure were observed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.26 no.4_2
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• pp.639-648
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• 2023

In modern society, UAM (Urban Air Mobility) transportation system is being developed as an alternative to urban traffic congestion and environmental problems, and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) is a combination of vertical take-off and landing function and electric power. It is attracting attention as an innovative next-generation transportation method as an eco-friendly alternative that reduces noise and air pollution by providing efficient mobility within the city. Since eVTOL development requires designing and implementing airframes suitable for various mission purposes, the power system needs to be developed as a platform concept before airframe development. In this study, we empirically proposed a test bench concept equipped with a stable power supply and an efficient control system, essential in developing a power platform with a combined function in the form of a fuselage and module type specialized for various mission purposes. The proposed drivetrain platform test bench consists of a system verifying the stable take-off and landing software and a power platform adjusting the motor's thrust. It will serve as a verification system that can be developed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.132-140
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• 2020

The development status was studied to predict the concept of how drone taxis would be presented in daily life. the results of the analysis on traffic effects of drone taxis showed that they would be an innovative transportation option that could reach a distance of 60km, which would typically take an hour by car, within twenty minutes. Moreover, the economic analysis of existing aircraft development was limited to production (development investment) of the input budget. However, since the drone taxi is a new transportation system, an overall traffic platform, such as its own terminals, would need to be established. So, the production inducement effect was analyzed by dividing input budget into three factors; production, infrastructure, and service. The results indicate this to be an innovative project expected to have an economic ripple effect and reach a total of 24 trillion won after an investment of 13 trillion won (production + infrastructure + service) in Korea from 2020 to 2040.