• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2014.10a
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• pp.189-192
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• 2014

Recently, development of electric powered UAV for high altitude and long endurance mission has been conducted worldwide. Long endurance requirement necessitates high lift over drag (L/D) aerodynamic characteristics and lightweight structures, leading to highly flexible wings with high aspect ratio. These highly flexible wings increase the danger of catastrophic aircraft failure due to flutter, which is a dynamic aeroelastic instability occurring from the interaction of aerodynamic, inertial, and elastic forces acting on the aircraft flying through the air. In this paper, flexible wing for electric powered UAV whose skin is fabricated using mylar film for lightweight design is briefly explained. In addition, flutter analysis procedures and results for the flexible wing in order to substantiate the aeroelastic stability requirements are presented.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2012.03a
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• pp.313-318
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• 2012

In the present study, the preliminary study on a small solar-powered RC airplane are performed for the development of a long-endurance solar-powered UAV. Solar energy enables the solar-powered UAV to fly longer or eternally. The solar-powered UAV transfers the solar energy to electric energy and this energy is used for the flight and the battery charge. To increase the flying time, the efficiency of the solar-cell power system must be increased and the required power for flight must be minimized. Hence, the system integration including solar cell and controller, the power system design, and the aerodynamic and structural designs of the UAV is very important. The present study have performed the design, manufacture, and flight test of the small solar-powered UAV for the preliminary study of the long-endurance solar-powered UAV. From this study, the system integration technology of the solar-powered UAV design is established, and the possibility and the issue points for the development of the long-endurance solar-powered UAV are discussed.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.59-66
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• 2011

Recently, an UAV using green energy for propulsion has been developed due to exhaustion of fossil fuel. This aircraft runs on electric motors rather than internal combustion engines, with electricity coming from fuel cells, solar cells, ultracapacitors, and/or batteries. Especially solar cells are installed in HALE UAV and flight tests are performed in the stratosphere. Although the solar powered UAV has the advantage of zero emission, its energy conversion efficiency is low and operation time is limited. Therefore, the solar powered UAV has been designed to operate with the secondary battery obtaining flexibility of energy management. In this study, we suggest the new operational concept of the solar powered UAV using directed-energy rayed from the surface of earth to UAV. An UAV is able to secure additional power through attaching solar cell to the lower surface of elevator. As a result, the additional energy supplied by directed-energy can improve the energy management and operational flexibility of the solar powered UAV.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.1-7
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• 2015

In the present study, we conducted the research on the high efficiency propulsion system for the development of long-endurance UAV with an electric propulsion system. For the long endurance UAV, fair aerodynamic characteristics with the high efficiency of the propulsion system is required because the flight power and the duration time of the long-endurance UAV vary greatly depending on the efficiency of the propulsion system. Therefore, in this study, the tracking program which records the performance of motor, propeller was developed because of their wide variation in the efficiency depending on the using condition, and records from the existing flight test program were utilized to check the accuracy of the program we had developed. For the development of future long-endurance solar UAV, we confirmed the applied voltage of motor, the optimal rotation of propeller and the gear ratio of reduction gear in order to get the highest efficiency on the propulsion system at the optimal flying condition.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.132-138
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• 2016

Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) is developing an electric-driven HALE UAV in order to secure system and operational technologies since 2010. Based on the flight tests and design experiences of the previously developed electric-driven UAVs, KARI has designed EAV-3, a solar-powered HALE UAV. EAV-3 weighs 53kg, the structure weight is 22kg, and features a flexible wing of 19.5m in span with the aspect ratio of 17.4. Designing the main wing and empennage of the EAV-3 the amount of the bending due to the flexible wing, 404mm at 1-G flight condition based on T-800 composite material, and side wind effects due to low cruise speed, $V_{cr}=6m/sec$, are carefully considered. Also, unlike the general aircraft there is no center of gravity shift during the flight because of the EAV-3 is the solar-electric driven UAV. Thus, static margin cuts down to 28.4% and center of gravity moves back to 31% of the Mean Aerodynamic Chord (MAC) comparing with the previously designed the EAV-2 and EAV-2H/2H+ to upgrade the flight performance of the EAV-3.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.11
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• pp.908-914
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• 2013

This study has developed a small solar powered UAV and performed its flight tests. In daylight, a solar powered UAV flies by using some of electricity generated from solar cells, and stores the remainder into battery. At night it flies by using electricity from battery. A solar powered UAV should have aerodynamically efficient configurations, light-weight, strong wing and fuselage. Its electric propulsion system and solar power system should also be very efficient. In the present study the solar powered UAV and its solar power system are developed for 12 hour continuous flight and the flight tests are performed to verify its performance. The flight tests performed in fall and winter to prove the present solar powered UAV is successful in four-season 12 hour flight.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2013

In order to increase endurance flight efficiency of long endurance electric powered UAV with solar cell, the light weight airframe design techniques are important. In this paper, the design of the main wing of electric powered UAV manufactured using Mylar film and fiber reinforced composite was conducted in order to achieve weight reduction and structural integrity of the structure. The shape of spar and size were determined using beam theory analysis. The finite element analysis of the wing was performed under various load condition derived from flight environment of EAV-2H. Finally, the static strength test of the main wing was conducted to verify structural integrity. It was found that the developed main wing weigh less than 42% than the previous EAV-2 and the main wing passed static strength test under ultimate load.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.24-29
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• 2015

In order to increase endurance flight efficiency of long endurance electric powered UAV, main wing of UAV should have high aspect ratio and low structural weight. Since a spar which consists of thin and slender structure for weight reduction can cause catastrophic failure during the flight, it is important to develop verification method of structural integrity of the spar with the light weight design. In this paper, process of structural analysis using non-linear finite element method was introduced for the verification of structural integrity of the spar. The static strength test of the spar was conducted to identify structural characteristic under the static load. Then, the experimental result of the spar was compared to the analytical result from the non-linear finite element analysis. It was found that the developed process of structural analysis could predict well the non-linear structural behavior of the spar under ultimate load.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.49-55
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• 2013

This paper deals with the flight test of propulsion system of middle size electrically powered UAV (EAV2, Electric Aerial Vehicle 2) which is under development in KARI. EAV2 is low speed endurance type UAV whose wing span is 6.9 m, and weight is 18 kg. The UAV has flown for 22 hours in June of 2012. The flight test result showed that the propulsion system worked well suppling power for any circumstances during the test flight. Each power source worked according to the design purpose.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2016

Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) is developing an electric-driven HALE UAV in order to secure system and operational technologies since 2010. Based on the 5 years of flight tests and design experiences of the previously developed electric-driven UAVs, KARI has designed EAV-3, a solar-powered HALE UAV. EAV-3 weighs 53 kg, the structure weight is 21 kg, and features a flexible wing of 19.5 m in span with the aspect ratio of 17.4. Designing the main wing and empennage of the EAV-3 the amount of the bending due to the flexible wing, 404 mm at 1-G flight condition based on T-800 composite material, and side wind effects due to low cruise speed, V_cr = 6 m/sec, are carefully considered. Also, unlike the general aircraft there is no center of gravity shift during the flight. Thus, the static margin cuts down to 28.4% and center of gravity moves back to 31% of the Mean Aerodynamic Chord (MAC) comparing to the previously developed scale-down HALE UAVs, EAV-2 and EAV-2H, to minimize a trim drag and enhance a performance of the EAV-3. The first flight of the EAV-3 has successfully conducted on the July 29, 2015 and the test flight above the altitude 14 km has efficiently achieved on the August 5, 2015 at the Goheung aviation center.