Energy Acquisition of Solar-Powered Joint-Wing Aircraft Considering Mismatch Power Loss

Xinzhe Ji, Kangwen Sun, Xiao Guo and Mou Sun
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Xinzhe Ji: School of Aeronautic Science and Engineering, Beihang University, 37 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100191, China
Kangwen Sun: Institute of Unmanned System, Beihang University, 37 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100191, China
Xiao Guo: Research Institute of Frontier Science, Beihang University, 37 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100191, China
Mou Sun: School of Aeronautic Science and Engineering, Beihang University, 37 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100191, China

Energies, 2021, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-18

Abstract: Solar-powered aircraft can perform long-term flights with clean solar energy. However, the energy derived from solar irradiation is influenced by the time of year and latitude, which limits the energy acquisition ability of solar aircraft with a straight-wing configuration. Hence, unconventional configurations based on increasing wing dihedral to track the sun are proposed to improve energy acquisition at high-latitude regions in winter, which may involve power loss caused by mismatch in the photovoltaic system. However, mismatch loss is seldom considered and may cause energy to be overestimated. In this paper, the energy acquisition characteristics of a joint-wing configuration are presented based on the simulation of an energy system to investigate the mismatch power loss. The results indicate a 4~15% deviation from the frequently used estimation method and show that the mismatch loss is influenced by the curved upper surface, the severity of shading and the circuit configuration. Then, the configuration energy acquisition factor is proposed to represent the energy acquisition ability of the joint-wing configuration. Finally, the matching between the aircraft configuration and flight trajectory is analyzed, demonstrating that the solar-powered aircraft with an unconventional wing configuration is more sensitive to the coupling between configuration and trajectory.

Keywords: solar-powered aircraft; joint-wing configuration; energy system; partial shading; configuration energy acquisition factor (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: 2021
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