Simplified Analytical Model for Investigating the Output Power of Solar Array on Stratospheric Airship

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°, 15°, 30°, 45° and 60°, 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.