Effects of solar panels on Aerodynamics of a small satellite with deployable aero-brake

IEEE - NILES22, 2022

Adding solar panels over the wing deforms the airfoil shape. Hence, the aerodynamic and stability performance are changed. By changing the aerodynamic performance, the range of aircraft changes considerably, which is of crucial importance for the Solar Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles because it glides most of the night hours. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of adding solar panels, over the wing of an unmanned aerial vehicle, using vortex panel method. The aerodynamic performance is analyzed in terms of lift, drag, and moment coefficients. The aircraft stability is quantified in terms of natural frequencies and damping ratios of the stability modes.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY, 2014

In this paper the authors present a model suitable to convert ultralight airplanes propulsion system from endothermic into electric, focusing only on the power management issues, discarding the mechanical and dynamic ones. The model developed represents a tool to correctly size the propulsion and energy management system of ultra-light aircrafts designed for short endurance flights. The authors performed several experiments to validate the model and to verify the efficiency of the designing tool.

NED UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF RESEARCH - APPLIED SCIENCES, 2023

Solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with long endurance can be utilised for area surveillance as the regenerative nature of solar energy makes such UAVs a terrestrial satellite with 24/7 endurance. This paper presents an aerodynamic optimisation scheme for UAVs through the selection of airfoils and wing planform during the preliminary design phase. Sizing of the tail and control surface based on historical trends for similar aircraft is also substantiated. Finally, detailed aerodynamic and stability analyses of the optimised configuration validate adequate flying and handling qualities of UAVs. The optimisation effort increased the endurance factor by 19.75 percent. This increase will conserve the energy required to overcome in-flight drag and surplus power that can be utilised by onboard equipment.

E3S Web of Conferences

The development of aviation vehicles on SC (solar cells) requires, in particular, evaluations of the technical decisions made regarding the layout of future developments and obtaining their design parameters. Accordingly, it is important to take into account previous developments in the various aviation engineering fields relevant to new aviation vehicles on the SC. Thanks to a detailed analysis of the flight and performance characteristics of widely known aircraft models on the SC from the 70s of the 20th century to the present, a picture of the distribution of aerodynamic schemes and important design parameters with conclusions regarding their choice is obtained. For aircraft on SC, the corresponding boundaries of their work in height and speed are determined in comparison with long-range aircraft. Also, acceptable values of unit load per unit area and specific power have been obtained that allow aircraft to be lifted on the SC at altitudes of at least 20 ths.m. These altitudes ar...

This paper presents analytical simulation of drag braking during deployment of a solar array system of a small satellite within the space environment, and helps the designer to detect problems during ground testing. The deployment mechanism (DM) is modeled by using Mechanical Desktop (MDT) software and analyzed by using Finite Element Analysis Package (ANSYS 11). Design and Stress analysis of DM is performed at the most critical points during its functioning. Several finite element analysis models were considered to verify the DM integrity. These analyses were correlated with static, modal and random vibration testing. The present work can help in checking the survival of the mechanism under realistic operating conditions and makes sure that it will perform well after an orbit insertion of the satellite.

Aerospace

A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) is a type of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that allows for flight in harsh weather for surveillance and access to remote areas. VTOL can be performed without a runway. As such, VOTL UAVs are used in areas where there is limited space and in urban locations. The structural endurance of VTOL UAVs is limited and is further reduced in the case of fixed-wing UAVs. Long-endurance aerial vehicles allow for continuous flight, but their power supply systems must be able to harvest energy from external sources in order to meet the guidelines. The wings of these UAVs are often covered with solar cells. This article presents the extended range and flight time of a tail-sitter VTOL that incorporates solar cells on the UAV structure. A VTOL powered by solar cells can perform aviation missions with fewer landings, allowing for the performance of such UAVs to be increased and for their flight time to be extended several times over those without solar cells. Si...

2016

Fig.1 “Helios” and “Yuan Meng” Europe and America are leading the way of the development of solar planes, while most of the solar planes they made and the concepts processed have large AR and wing span. The run way, the time, the weather available for the wide shelves is infrequent as the new one usually refreshes the size record. Weight design of solar powered UAV has so many problems to deal with that the payload is always strictly limited. It also can’t be ignored that the complex flow field in the troposphere is a threat for the slender shelves. HAA, adopting the aerostatics theory , has more superiority in the issues like payload and take-off & landing conditions. The body of HAA, whose volume could be huge, ranges from ten thousands to hundreds of thousands of cubic meters. The balance between its power requirement of flight control system, weight and the energy management can be an endless iteration. Based on the technical features of the solar powered UAV and HAA, an innovat...

AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, 2016

Orbital debris has crossed a threshold of critical density in Low Earth Orbit where the number of debris objects will grow exponentially due to collisions unless actively mitigated. Recent announcements of commercial small satellite constellations indicate interest in deploying hundreds to thousands of micro-satellites into Low-Earth Orbit at altitudes ranging from 1,000-1,200 km, in order to provide global internet service. These constellations create a great need for a standard system for deorbit to help mitigate the orbital debris problem. This paper describes a deployable drag device that leverages recent advancements in thin membrane deployable structures to create a passive aerodynamically stable drag sail that will ensure a satellite deorbits within 25 years regardless of its functionality. The aerodynamic stability of the drag device is evaluated for orbit altitudes ranging from 400 to 600 km, while varying the apex half-angle of the square pyramid drag sail from 65 to 85 deg. An apex half-angle of 80 or 85 deg provides passive stability for most conditions at orbit altitudes of 500 km and lower. It is shown that transparent CP1 is preferable to aluminized sail material for aerodynamic stability, due to the reduced solar torques.

IRJET, 2020

Unmanned Aerial vehicle (UAVs) has become significant in the field surveillance sectors of Many Nations. Endurance is the one of the foremost problem in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Generally most of the aircrafts use conventional fuel which cause pollutant, which it is also have a short time life and Expensive. So there is an Enormous demand for using a non exhaustible source of energy as a fuel. A solar energy is one of the obtainable renewable energy. Above the years, the optimization and designing of the aerodynamics of those Aerial vehicle have obtained lot of importance to the enlarging the usage to developing the UAV with effective endurance and stability at a subsonic speed. This paper contracts with comparison of analysing the Performance of a solar powered wing consisting of two different airfoil sections. Which are combined into a single wing and these wings are with each of the two homogeneous airfoil sections. The separate wing structure models were modelled through CATIA and imported into ANSYS FLUENT. Lift and Drag were calculated around it .Results were contrasted around it. Determination in regards to the benefits of utilizing a sun powered wing as use of wing with homogeneous airfoil.

2019

It is predicted that over 2,600 nanosatellites and microsatellites will be launched into orbit over the next five years. In addition, plans for large commercial constellations consisting of thousands of small satellites in the 1,100–1,400 km orbit altitude regime are currently in development, driving the need for a scalable, reliable deorbit system. A drag device provides an efficient method for accelerating deorbit following the completion of a satellite’s operational mission. The Passively Stable Pyramid Sail is a standardized, bolt-on deorbit system in the form of a thin-membrane drag sail. The sail geometry is established to provide passive aerodynamic stability in the upper atmosphere, allowing the system to trim to the maximum drag attitude. This scalable system is sized according to the satellite mass and orbit altitude in order to deorbit the host satellite within 25 years. Unlike propulsive deorbit systems that require operability of the host satellite, the drag sail approa...