• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• 제17권3호
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• pp.432-441
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• 2016

Solar energy is the ideal power choice for long-endurance stratospheric airships. The output performance of solar array on stratospheric airship is affected by several major factors: flying latitude, flight date, airship's attitude and the temperature of solar cell, but the research on the effect of these factors on output performance is rare. This paper establishes a new simplified analytical model with thermal effects to analyze the output performance of the solar array. This model consisting of the geometric model of stratospheric airship, solar radiation model and incident solar radiation model is developed using MATLAB computer program. Based on this model, the effects of the major factors on the output performance of the solar array are investigated expediently and easily. In the course of the research, the output power of solar array is calculated for five airship's latitudes of $0^{\circ}$, $15^{\circ}$, $30^{\circ}$, $45^{\circ}$ and $60^{\circ}$, four special dates and different attitudes of five pitch angles and four yaw angles. The effect of these factors on output performance is discussed in detail. The results are helpful for solving the energy problem of the long endurance airship and planning the airline.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• 제7권1호
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• pp.41-51
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• 2016

In the stratosphere, the air is stable and a photovoltaic (PV) system can produce more solar energy compared to in the atmosphere. If unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) fly in the stratosphere, the flight stability and efficiency of the mission are improved. On the other hand, the weakened lift force of the UAV due to the rarefied atmosphere can require more power for lift according to the weight and/or wing area of the UAV. To solve this problem, it is necessary to minimize the weight of the aircraft and improve the performance of the power system. A regenerative fuel cell (RFC) consisting of a fuel cell (FC) and water electrolysis (WE) combined PV power system has been investigated as a good alterative because of its higher specific energy. The WE system produces hydrogen and oxygen, providing extra energy beyond the energy generated by the PV system in the daytime, and then saves the gases in tanks. The FC system supplies the required power to the UAV at night, so the additional fuel supply to the UAV is not needed anymore. The specific energy of RFC systems is higher than that of Li-ion battery systems, so they have less weight than batteries that supply the same energy to the UAV. In this paper, for a stratospheric long-endurance hybrid UAV based on an RFC system, three major design factors (UAV weight, wing area and performance of WE) affecting the ability of long-term flight were determined and a simulation-based feasibility study was performed. The effects of the three design factors were analyzed as the flight time increased, and acceptable values of the factors for long endurance were found. As a result, the long-endurance of the target UAV was possible when the values were under 350 kg, above 150 m² and under 80 kWh/kg H₂.