Extending flight endurance of electric unmanned aerial vehicles through photovoltaic system integration

Abstract

This paper briefly describes the advantage of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) over manned aircraft, listing applications for them also pinpoints the importance of long endurance flight that can be increased by photovoltaic cells integration. A summarized historical overview of solar-powered UAV designs is presented, mentioning improvements required in the past for solar-powered UAV components to achieve a feasible project - achievable nowadays. Also explains the main components of a solar-powered UAV architecture and the concept of energy balance that must be analyzed during design and operation of solar-powered UAV. A methodology to estimate the flight endurance increase of an Electric UAV adapted with photovoltaic cells was proposed and applied to an experimental project, yielding accurate results when compared to an experimental case. This methodology aims to contribute on assess the increasing Electric UAV flight endurance by photovoltaic system integration prior to experimental tests.