The effect of use of solar panels on micro scale fixed-wing UAV type as a power recharging system

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), popularly known as drone, is a type of aerial explorer robot that can be controlled remotely to carry out certain missions. One type of UAV for carrying out a flying mission is a fixed-wing type. It is widely used for mapping and monitoring equipment. This type of drone has limited flight time because the battery used has limited capacity, especially in micro scale UAVs with±2 kg weight. Therefore, sometimes the drone must return to replace the battery before the mission is complete. In this condition, experimental research is needed with the addition of solar panels in the wings to increase flight time. The method used to solve this problem is by designing an electronic component UAV which is integrated with a solar panel charger system, an airframe with 2.125 kg flight weight, 18 m/s cruise speed, 1.63 m wingspan, and 0.37 m2 wing surface area. The solar cells used are Sunpower C60, are arranged in series of 10 pieces with 21% maximum efficiency and 0.132 m2 total surface area. The solar panel charger system is integrated with UAV electronic components that use the Tarot2814 brushless motor with 290 W maximum power, ESC 30 A, 4S Sony VTC6 3000 mAh battery, LM2587 5A step-up module, and Arduino solar charge controller. The results of the research prove that micro scale UAV-Solar can add flight time for 2 minutes with an intensity of solar radiation average of 929.46 W/m2. During flight testing, solar cells produce an average power of 15.14 W with a maximum efficiency of 14.8% and a total flight time of 15 minutes. This proves that the addition of solar panels to UAV micro scale fixed wing types can be realized.