Comprehensive preliminary sizing/resizing method for a fixed wing – VTOL electric UAV

Abstract A Fixed Wing (FW) aircraft with Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) is a new type of aircraft that inherits the hovering, VTOL, and maneuvering properties of multicopters and the power-efficient cruising of an FW aircraft. This paper presents a comprehensive method for FW-VTOL electric UAV sizing and resizing. The method uses newly developed integrated analysis that combines the VTOL propulsion sizing method with modified FW aircraft sizing theories. Performance requirements are specified as a set of functional relations. Several new empirical equations are derived using available data. The required battery capacity and total mass are determined from mission analysis that includes both VTOL and FW mission segments. The design is iteratively resized when the actual components of the propulsion system are selected. A case study of a 3.5-kg FW-VTOL electric UAV is presented in this research. The results of sizing and resizing are compared to parameters of the actual aircraft manufactured. Prediction of most parameters stays within a 10% error threshold.

[1]  Snorri Gudmundsson,et al.  General Aviation Aircraft Design: Applied Methods and Procedures , 2013 .

[2]  Jay Gundlach,et al.  Designing Unmanned Aircraft Systems: A Comprehensive Approach , 2011 .

[3]  Claire J. Tomlin,et al.  Quadrotor Helicopter Flight Dynamics and Control: Theory and Experiment , 2007 .

[4]  B. McCloskey,et al.  Lithium−Air Battery: Promise and Challenges , 2010 .

[5]  L. K. Loftin.  Subsonic aircraft: Evolution and the matching of size to performance , 1980 .

[6]  Federico Gualdoni,et al.  An integrated approach to the preliminary weight sizing of small electric aircraft , 2016 .

[7]  J. Roskam.  Rapid sizing methods for airplanes , 1985 .

[8]  Daniel P. Raymer,et al.  Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach , 1989 .

[9]  Yong Li,et al.  Design principles and energy system scale analysis technologies of new lithium-ion and aluminum-ion batteries for sustainable energy electric vehicles , 2017 .

[10]  P.J. Masson,et al.  Next Generation More-Electric Aircraft: A Potential Application for HTS Superconductors , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity.

[11]  D. P. Paine,et al.  Aerial Photography and Image Interpretation , 2003 .

[12]  J. Gordon Leishman,et al.  Principles of Helicopter Aerodynamics , 2000 .

[13]  C. Edward Lan,et al.  Airplane Aerodynamics and Performance , 2016 .

[14]  Martin Hepperle,et al.  Electric Flight - Potential and Limitations , 2012 .

[15]  Jonathan D. Keith,et al.  Rapid Sizing Methodologies for VTOL UAVs , 2009 .