Hybrid Powerplant Design and Energy Management for UAVs: Enhancing Autonomy and Reducing Operational Costs

Javier A. Quintana, Carlos Bordons (), Sergio Esteban () and Julian Delgado
Additional contact information
Javier A. Quintana: ENGREEN—Laboratory of Engineering for Energy and Enviromental Sustainability, Universidad de Sevilla, 41092 Seville, Spain
Carlos Bordons: ENGREEN—Laboratory of Engineering for Energy and Enviromental Sustainability, Universidad de Sevilla, 41092 Seville, Spain
Sergio Esteban: Department of Aerospace Engineering, Universidad de Sevilla, 41092 Seville, Spain
Julian Delgado: Zelenza S.L., 28053 Madrid, Spain

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 12, 1-25

Abstract: This study presents the design of a hybrid powerplant for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), improving its autonomy compared to power systems based solely on batteries. The powerplant is designed for the Mugin EV-350 aircraft. Using experimental data from electric motors in a wind tunnel and fuel cells, a comparative analysis of different energy management strategies, such as fuzzy logic and passive, is conducted to reduce the operational and maintenance costs. A Python-based software program is developed and utilized for the real-time implementation and simulation of energy management strategies, with data collected in databases. This study integrates experimental data (wind tunnel and fuel cells) with real-time EMS strategies, and simulation-based predictions indicate practical improvements in endurance and cost reduction, as well as an increase in flight autonomy of 50%.

Keywords: energy management; system integration; electric propulsion systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/12/3101/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/12/3101/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:12:p:3101-:d:1677580

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().