Practical Endurance Estimation for Minimizing Energy Consumption of Multirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Myeong-hwan Hwang, Hyun-Rok Cha and Sung Yong Jung
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Myeong-hwan Hwang: EV Components & Materials R&D Group, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, 6 Cheomdan-gwagiro, 208 beon-gil, Buk-gu, Gwangju 61012, Korea
Hyun-Rok Cha: EV Components & Materials R&D Group, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, 6 Cheomdan-gwagiro, 208 beon-gil, Buk-gu, Gwangju 61012, Korea
Sung Yong Jung: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chosun University, 309 Pilmun-Daero, Dong-gu, Gwangju 61452, Korea

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 9, 1-11

Abstract: The practically applicable endurance estimation method for multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) using a battery as a power source is proposed. The method considers both hovering and steady-level flights. The endurance, thrust, efficiency, and battery discharge are determined with generally available data from the manufacturer. The effects of the drag coefficient related to vehicle shape and payload weight are examined at various forward flight speeds. As the drag coefficient increases, the optimum speed at the minimum required power and the maximum endurance are reduced. However, the payload weight causes an opposite effect, and the optimal flying speed increases with an increase in the payload weight. For more practical applications for common users, the value of S × C d is determined from a preliminary flight test. Given this value, the endurance is numerically estimated and validated with the measured flight time. The proposed method can successfully estimate the flight time with an average error of 2.3%. This method would be useful for designers who plan various missions and select UAVs.

Keywords: multirotor UAVs; endurance; hovering; steady-level flight (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: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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