• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 2024

This paper addresses the enhancement of long-endurance solar-powered aircraft through the integration of a rechargeable battery and Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) controller. Traditional long-endurance aircraft often rely on non-renewable energy sourcessuch as batteries orjetfuel, contributing to carbon emissions. The proposed system aims to mitigate these environmental impacts by harnessing solar energy and efficiently managing its storage and utilization. The MPPT controller optimizes the power output of photovoltaic cells, enabling simultaneous charging and discharging of the battery for propulsion and servo control. A prototype is presented to illustrate the practical implementation and functionality of the proposed design, marking a promising step towards more sustainable and enduring solar-powered flight.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.523-535
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• 2012

Solar powered aircraft are becoming more and more interesting for future long endurance missions at hight altitudes, because they could provide surveillance, earth monitoring, telecommunications, etc. without any atmospheric pollution and hopefully in the near future with competitive costs compared with satellites. However, traditional aircraft sizing methods currently employed in the conceptual design phase are not immediately applicable to solar powered aircraft. Hence, energy balance and constraint analyses were performed to determine how various power system components effect the sizing of a solar powered long endurance aircraft. The primary power system components considered in this study were photovoltaic (PV) modules for power generation and regenerative fuel cells for energy storage. To verify current research results, these new sizing methods were applied to HALE aircraft and results were presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.35-43
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• 2017

Research for solar-powered high altitude long endurance(HALE) UAV was conducted by Korea Aerospace Research Institute(KARI), and the EAV-3 with 19.5m wing span was developed. For HALE flight, aircraft should be lightly designed. Especially, airframe structure that accounts for a large portion of the total weight of aircraft should be lightweight. In this paper, development process of airframe structure for solar-powered HALE UAV, EAV-3, is described briefly. Domestic developed T-800 grade CFRP(Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic) composite material with high modulus and strength was used to design main load carrying structures. Flightloads analysis that takes into account large structural deformation was carried out. Stress and flutter analyses for airframe structure sizing were conducted. Static strength test for main wing and aircraft ground vibration test were conducted successfully and structural integrity was secured.

• 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.19 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2011

Several studies on the development for solar powered uninhabited aerial vehicles(UAVs) are under way as the use of the renewable energy becomes more and more important these days. This paper is for the conceptual design by a discrete and iterative method. An initial design point with 1.5 meter wing span is determined in the global design, which deploys the mass and energy balances among each component of UAV including solar cells and airframe. Then, the iteration for subsystems is carried out with the help of Vortex Lattice Method(VLM) to optimize the aircraft configuration and the solar power system. It is demonstrated in simulations that the optimized design increases the flight time from 62 to 120 minutes when the solar power system is installed. Also, the associated dynamic analysis reveals that the designed small aircraft has the acceptable stability and controllability.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2016

In order to suggest the optimal manufacturing technology of composite wings of solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles, this study compared forming technologies to reduce wing weight for long-endurance flight and to improve the manufacturing process for cost-saving and mass production. It compared the manufacturing time and weight of various composite wing molding technologies, including cocuring, secondary bonding, and manufacturing by balsa. As a result, wing weight was reduced through cocuring methods such as band type composite fiber/tape lamination technology, which enabled prolonged flight duration. In addition, the reduced manufacturing time led to a lower cost, which is a good example of weight lightening for not only small solar-powered UAVs, but also composite aircraft.

• 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.50 no.7
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• pp.479-487
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• 2022

This paper presents the control and guidance algorithm of a KAU-SPUAV(Korea Aerospace University - Solar Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) which is designed and developed in Korea Aerospace University. Aerodynamic coefficients are calculated using the vortex-lattice method and applied to the aircraft's six degrees of freedom equation. In addition, the thrust and torque coefficients of the propeller are calculated using the blade element theory. An altitude controller using thrust was used for longitudinal control of KAU-SPUAV to glide efficiently when it comes across the upwind. Also describes wind estimation technic for considering wind effect during flight. Finally, introduce some guidance laws for endurance, mission and coping with strong headwinds and autonomous landing.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.129-138
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• 2012

A MDO study of a midium-sized solar powered High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) UAV has been performed, focused on energy balance. In the MDO process, Vortex Lattice Method(VLM) is employed for the aerodynamic modeling of the vehicle, of which structural weight is estimated with the modeling proposed by Cruz. Tail volume ratios have been set as constants, while the location of tail surfaces is determined from longitudinal static stability criterion. By balancing the available energy from solar cells, battery, and altitude, with the energy-requirement of the vehicle, the possibility of continuous flight over 24-hours has been investigated. The solar radiation level is set as that of summer at the latitude of $36^{\circ}$ north. During the daytime, the aircraft climbs using solar energy, accumulating potential energy, which supplements energy balance during the night. Optimizations have been sought in size of the vehicle, its weight distribution, and flight strategy.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.468-477
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• 2014

In this research, how a solar powered HALE (high altitude long endurance) UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) can climb and reach mission altitude, 18km, starting from the ground using only solar energy. A glider type aircraft was assumed as a baseline configuration which has wing area of $35.98m^2$ and aspect ratio of 25. Configuration parameters, lift and drag coefficients were calculated using OpenVSP and XFLR5 that are NASA open source programs, and climb flights were predicted through energy balance between available energy from solar power and energy necessary for a climb flight. Minimum time climb flight was obtained by minimizing flight velocities at each altitude and total time and total energy consumption to reach the mission altitude were predicted for different take off time. Also, aircraft moving distances due to westerly wind and flight speed were calculated.