• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.73-84
• /
• 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 Aerospace System Engineering
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.59-65
• /
• 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 5 years of 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 53 kg, the structure weight is 21 kg, and features a flexible wing of 19.5 m 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, 404 mm at 1-G flight condition based on T-800 composite material, and side wind effects due to low cruise speed, V_cr = 6 m/sec, are carefully considered. Also, unlike the general aircraft there is no center of gravity shift during the flight. Thus, the static margin cuts down to 28.4% and center of gravity moves back to 31% of the Mean Aerodynamic Chord (MAC) comparing to the previously developed scale-down HALE UAVs, EAV-2 and EAV-2H, to minimize a trim drag and enhance a performance of the EAV-3. The first flight of the EAV-3 has successfully conducted on the July 29, 2015 and the test flight above the altitude 14 km has efficiently achieved on the August 5, 2015 at the Goheung aviation center.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
• /
• v.42 no.4
• /
• pp.703-715
• /
• 2017

In this paper, we analyze the channel characteristics of the long distance air-ground wideband common data link and we propose a mathematical method to analyze the effect of narrowband and wideband interference of air-ground channel on the received signal of wideband data link. In this paper, we analyze the reception performance according to the communication distance using the proposed performance analysis method, and found out that the communication distance is limited by the narrowband and wideband interference of ground reflection wave. As a result of the performance analysis of the method of controlling the receiving antenna upward, not only the narrow band but also the wideband interference is effectively reduced, so that the communication distance is increased even in the existing wideband data link not including the equalizer.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.43 no.12
• /
• pp.1097-1107
• /
• 2015

General VTOL aircraft uses gas turbine engine which has high power to weight ratio. However, in the VTOL UAV in small sector, the gas turbine as a prime mover is not adequate because of the limitation of the high fuel consumption ratio of the gas turbine. In this research, The Series Hybrid-Electric Propulsion System(SHEPS) has been proposed and technology survey & comparison analysis has conducted to constitute propulsion system for engine, electric motor and battery. To achieve this object a 65kg-class P-UAV from "Company I" was used. And to estimate the validity of power control algorithm and developed power management control, Matlab/simulink$^{(R)}$ has been used for the simulation. As a result, the developed algorithm worked comparatively well and the research has predicted that SHEPS was satisfied enough for 7 hour of endurance for mission profile.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.41 no.9
• /
• pp.708-713
• /
• 2013

KARI is developing a solar-electric powered HALE UAV(EAV-3). For demonstrating the technology, EAV-2H, a down-scaled version of EAV-3, is developed and after EAV-2H's initial flight test, the directional stability and control need to be improved. Thus, the vertical tail and rudder of EAV-2H are redesigned with Advanced Aircraft Analysis(AAA). Size of the rudder is increased from mean chord ratio of rudder to vertical tail, $C_r/C_v(%)=30$ to $C_r/C_v(%)=60$ and size of the vertical tail is reduced 15%. As a result, the directional control to side wind($v_1$) is improved to sideslip angle, ${\beta}(deg)=25^{\circ}$ and $v_1(m/sec)=3.54$. Also, variation of airplane side force coefficient with sideslip angle ($C_{y_{\beta}}$) and variation of airplane side force coefficient with dimensionless rate of change of yaw rate ($C_{y_r}$) are reduced 15% and 22%, respectively to minimize the effect of side wind. The empennage design of EAV-2H is verified with flight tests and applied to design of KARI's solar-electric-powered EAV-3.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.43 no.12
• /
• pp.1035-1047
• /
• 2015

Wind tunnel experiment and computational analysis have been carried out to evaluate the performance of propeller for scale electric-powered HALE UAV, named EAV-2H+. Performance curves are measured for three propellers and their adequacy for EAV-2H+ installation is examined through consideration of operating conditions. Decline in performance coefficients is observed in low rpm region. Also, the effect of transition tape on propeller performance is measured and analyzed. The computational performance analyses are carried out by using commercial CFD program. The thrust and power coefficient from computations show good agreement with experimental results. Performance coefficients are compared and the influence of measurement device which contributes to discrepancy of the results is examined. Transition SST model is confirmed to yield the tendency of performance decline in low rpm range, similar to experimental observation. The decrease in aerodynamic performance of blade element due to low Reynolds number is identified to cause the decline in propeller performance. Analyses for high altitude conditions confirms degradation in propeller performance.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.44 no.9
• /
• pp.833-841
• /
• 2016

The 200 W electrically powered unmanned aerial vehicle, which is studied in this research, uses solar cells, a fuel cell and batteries as the main power source simultaneously. The output of each power source performs power control for each power source by the active power control method so that an adequate capacity of the battery could be maintained while limiting the maximum output of the fuel cell. The output variation for each power source under the active power control method was identified through an integrated ground test. In addition, the effect of limiting the maximum output of the fuel cell on the output variation of the entire system was experimentally identified, and it was confirmed that the adequate maximum output value of the fuel cell for preventing the overdischarge of six series-connected, small size batteries for fuel cell systems is 150 W.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.29-39
• /
• 2021

As a means of solving traffic congestion in the downtown of large city, the interest in urban air mobility (UAM) using electric vertical take-off landing personal aerial vehicle (eVTOL PAV) is increasing. eVTOL configurations that will be used for UAM are classified by lift-and-cruise, tilt rotors, tilt-wings, tilted-ducted fans, multicopters, depending on propulsion types. This study tries to perform preliminary conceptual design for a given mission profile using reverse engineering techniques by taking the multicopter type Airbus's CityAirbus as a basic model. Wetted area, lift to drag ratio, drag coefficients were calculated using the OpenVSP which is an aerodynamic analysis software. The power required for each mission section of CityAirbus were calculated, and the corresponding battery and motor were selected. Also, total weight was predicted by estimating component weights of eVTOL.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.49 no.2
• /
• pp.107-120
• /
• 2021

Electric-powered distributed propulsion aircraft possess a complex wake flow and mutual interference with the airframe, due to the use of many propellers. Accordingly, in the early design stage, rapid aerodynamic and load analysis considering the effect of propellers for various configurations and flight conditions are required. In this study, an efficient panel-based aerodynamic analysis method that can take into account the propeller effects is developed and validated. The induced velocity field in the region of propeller wake is calculated based on Actuator Disk Theory (ADT) and is considered as the boundary condition at the vehicle's surface in the three-dimensional steady source-doublet panel method. Analyses are carried out by selecting an isolated propeller of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI)'s Quad Tilt Propeller (QTP) aircraft and the propeller-wing configuration of the former experimental study as benchmark problems. Through comparisons with the results of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based on actuator methods, the wake velocity of propeller and the changes in the aerodynamic load distribution of the wing due to the propeller operation are validated. The method is applied to the analysis of the Optional Piloted Personal Aerial Vehicle (OPPAV) and QTP, and the practicality and validity of the method are confirmed through comparison and analysis of the computational time and results with CFD.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.361-370
• /
• 2021

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) is one of the composite materials, which has a unique property that is lightweight but strong. The CFRPs are widely used in various industries where their unique characteristics are required. In particular, electric and unmanned aerial vehicles critically need lightweight parts and bodies with sufficient mechanical strengths. Vehicles using the battery as a power source should simultaneously meet two requirements that the battery has to be safely protected. The vehicle should be light of increasing the mileage. The CFRP has considered as the one that satisfies the requirements and is widely used as battery housing and other vehicle parts. On the other hand, in the battery area, carbon fibers are intensively tested as battery components such as electrodes and/or current collectors. Furthermore, using carbon fibers as both structure reinforcements and battery components to build a structural battery is intensively investigated in Sweden and the USA. This mini-review encompasses recent research trends that cover the classification of structural batteries in terms of functionality of carbon fibers and issues and efforts in the battery and discusses the prospect of structural batteries.