• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.95-101
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• 2024

This paper aims to establish a reconfigurable flight simulation environment to conduct safety evaluation of various electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Since the inceptor, aircraft dynamics model, and controller applied to each eVTOL aircraft are different, it was configured to be variable so that a simulation can be executed for each eVTOL aircraft. Test elements and performance indicators were set to perform safety evaluation of eVTOL aircraft. Ground auxiliary equipments were designed and implemented in a simulation environment according to test procedures for each test element. In addition, to analyze safety performance, a simulation flight data collection environment based on MATLAB/Simulink and a tool for safety performance analysis were implemented. Test flight and analysis were conducted in the implemented simulation environment in this paper. Finally, this study shows the environment was verified by confirming that it was performed normally.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.20-29
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• 2021

As the feasibility of urban air mobility (UAM) service using electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft increases due to aircraft electrification, distributed propulsion, and artificial intelligence technologies, the U.S. and European aeronautical societies have been improving their certification system and regulations for the type certification of eVTOL. The improved certification system is expected to be ready in the near future, after the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) proposed the VTOL Special Condition, SC-VTOL in 2019. However, the current domestic certification system is still insufficient to properly respond to eVTOL. This study investigated the development trends of foreign eVTOL and certification systems, identified considerations to improve the domestic certification system, and proposed the measures for type certificates and type certificates validation of eVTOL based on the comparison between SC-VTOL and Korea airworthiness standards (KAS).

• 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 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 Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.17-28
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• 2021

Recently, eVTOL, the next-generation of eco-friendly transportation, has been in the spotlight due to global warming along with traffic jams in large cities of many countries. This study benchmark the external features of Hyundai Motors S-A1, a compound eVTOL combined fixed and tilt rotors among many types of eVTOLs, to create the basic configuration using reverse design techniques. Basic configurations were created using CATIA and aerodynamic analyses were performed using the aircraft design and aerodynamic analysis programs, OpenVSP, XFLR5, and the aircraft wetted area, drag, and lift were calculated after selecting the airfoil, incidence angle, and dihedral and anhedral angles through trade study. Also, required powers were estimated for completing the given mission profile and components weight and the total weight were predicted using the estimation formula and data survey.

• 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.1
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• pp.59-66
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• 2022

In order to solve the problem of urban traffic congestion, Urban Air Mobility (UAM) concept using Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft has been gaining popularity, and many domestic and international studies are underway. However, since these aircraft inevitably fly over densely populated areas, it is essential to ensure safety, which starts with accurately analyzing the crash risk. In this paper, the locations and impact speeds of crash are computed using six degree-of-freedom simulations of an eVTOL aircraft in a fixed-wing mode. System malfunction was modeled by a sudden loss of thrust with control surfaces being stuck during cruise. Because most of these eVTOL aircraft are still under development, a methodology of constructing a six degree-of-freedom dynamics model from generic specification is also developed. The results show that the crash locations are highly concentrated right under the aircraft within a square that has an edge length similar to the cruise altitude. Speed distribution is more complicated because almost identical crash locations can be achieved by two very different paths resulting in a large variation in the speeds.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.27-38
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• 2022

Urban air mobility (UAM) has recently attracted lots of attention as a solution to urban centralization and global warming. Electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) is a concept that emerges as one of the promising and clean technologies for UAM. There are two difficult challenges for eVTOL aircraft to solve. One is how to improve the weight efficiency of aircraft, and the other is how to complete long-range missions for UAM's flight scenarios. To approach these challenges, we propose a consolidated concept design of battery-fuel cell hybrid tiltrotor aircraft with a liquid hydrogen (LH₂) fuel tank. The efficiency of a battery-fuel cell hybrid powertrain system on the designed eVTOL aircraft is compared to that of a battery-only powertrain system. This paper shows how much payload can increase and the flight scenario can be improved by hybridizing the battery and fuel cell and presenting a detailed concept of a cryogenic storage tank for LH₂.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.42-51
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• 2022

An eVTOL aircraft, which is required to operate with low pollution/low noise in urban environments, mostly use battery-powered electric propulsion systems as power sources, not traditional propulsion systems such as reciprocating or turbine engines. Accordingly, certification preparation for the electric propulsion system and securing the safety of the electric propulsion system, are important issues. In the U.S., special technical standards equivalent to FAR Part 33 were issued to certify electric engines, and in Europe, various special conditions were established to certify electric propulsion systems. Thus, in Korea, the technical standards for the electric propulsion system for eVTOL aircraft must also be prepared in line with the U.S. and Europe. In this paper, SC E-19, the technical standard of the electric/hybrid propulsion system (EHPS) in special conditions, was analyzed. Additionally, securing the safety of the electric propulsion system of the aircraft are proposed, through the collaboration of SC E-19 technical standards with the existing aircraft safety evaluation procedure ARP 4761. Finally, through a case study of the Ehang 184 electric propulsion system, it has been confirmed that the proposed safety assurance method is applicable at the aircraft level.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.203-210
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• 2021

In many metropolitan cities around the world, ground and underground transportation networks are saturated due to urbanization. In addition, regulations on carbon emissions to prevent global warming are becoming stricter, and eVTOL, which will be operating in complex cities, is gaining popularity as the next generation of eco-friendly transportation. In this study, the hover lift efficiency and disc loading of eVTOLs for each type were calculated by classifying eVTOLs into following types: multicopter, lift+cruise, and vectored thrust. In addition, using the aerodynamic analysis programs OpenVSP, Fluent and Javaprop, the specific battery energy required for the smooth operation of eVTOL, which will be realized in the near future, was calculated and analyzed base on reports published by Uber and airworthiness authorities of each country.