• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.20-29
• /
• 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 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 Advanced Navigation Technology
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.95-101
• /
• 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 the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.49 no.7
• /
• pp.593-599
• /
• 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 Advanced Navigation Technology
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.203-210
• /
• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.49 no.3
• /
• pp.233-241
• /
• 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
• /
• 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 Advanced Navigation Technology
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.77-95
• /
• 2023

In this study, the conceptual design of a tilt + stopped rotor type electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft was performed using design iteration. Based on Hyundai Motor's S-A1, the mission profile was defined using the concept of urban air mobility (UAM), and configuration design and aerodynamic analysis were performed using OpenVSP and XFLR5 software. After estimating the required power for the designed eVTOL, the required performance of the battery and the maximum take-off weight (MTOW) were calculated. . It was iteratively calculated using Microsoft Excel and Visual Basic Application, and a new electric motor weight estimation formula was derived. Also, the sensitivity analyses of each design variables of an eVTOL was performed using the automated program.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.49 no.10
• /
• pp.859-870
• /
• 2021

KARI (Korea Aerospace Research Institute) is developing a design framework for the concept and preliminary design of eVTOL aircrafts. A low fidelity mission analysis tool was developed for the eVTOL aircrafts of Lift-Tilt Concept, which have tilt propellers and lift propellers, using open source SUAVE package. For its development, a review for the propeller performance analysis functionality was made. To find the trim solution at each mission segment automatically, an algorithm is implemented, using a global optimization technique through parallel processings and DOE(design of experiment). Using the tool, the one seated eVTOL OPPAV(optionally piloted personal air vehicle) was modeled and evaluated, which results were compared with the preliminary design data.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.17-28
• /
• 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.