Parameter analysis of power system for solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle

Abstract

Solar long-endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has the ability of energy self-circulation, which has attracted attention in many application fields, such as high-speed Internet and smart city. Power balance is a determining factor in the power system of solar-powered UAV as it could lead to 24-hour energy cycle losses. The impacts of non-ideal factors (such as direct beam radiation, solar incidence angle and unpredictable wind field) on power balance and energy cycle are still unclear. Through this research, the mathematical model of power balance based on power system is established, and then the effect of different factors on power balance and critical energy cycle is analyzed combined with experimental data. From the experiment, direct beam radiation and solar incidence angle are two important factors for the power balance. The effect of random wind on energy storage batteries is relatively small. In the critical energy cycle, the decrease of direct beam radiation leaded to SOC loss of 0.12, which makes the energy cycle unbalanced and was harmful to energy sustainability. The loss of SOC could be effectively reduced by optimizing solar incidence angle in a certain period of time, which increases the endurance of the system. The data obtained from the analysis of the experimental results are helpful to the optimal design of energy storage system margin and global energy management.