Hover performance estimation and validation of battery powered vertical takeoff and landing aircraft

• Published in: Journal of Central South University Vol. 23; no. 10; pp. 2595 - 2603
• Main Authors: Wang, Bo, Hou, Zhong-xi, Lu, Ya-fei, Zhu, Xiong-feng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Changsha Central South University 01.10.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aircraft control; Aircraft performance; Control Science and Information Engineering; Design optimization; Engineering; Fatigue tests; Mechanical Engineering; Metallic Materials; Performance evaluation; Power management; Propulsion system performance; Specific energy; Speed control; Vertical takeoff aircraft; vertical takeoff and landing; battery powered aircraft; experimental validation; hover endurance estimation
• ISSN: 2095-2899; 2227-5223
• DOI: 10.1007/s11771-016-3321-8

Battery powered vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft attracts more and more interests from public, while limited hover endurance hinders many prospective applications. Based on the weight models of battery, motor and electronic speed controller, the power consumption model of propeller and the constant power discharge model of battery, an efficient method to estimate the hover endurance of battery powered VTOL aircraft was presented. In order to understand the mechanism of performance improvement, the impacts of propulsion system parameters on hover endurance were analyzed by simulations, including the motor power density, the battery capacity, specific energy and Peukert coefficient. Ground experiment platform was established and validation experiments were carried out, the results of which showed a well agreement with the simulations. The estimation method and the analysis results could be used for optimization design and hover performance evaluation of battery powered VTOL aircraft.