A Method of Increasing the Electric Aircraft Flight Range by Reducing Weight during Flight
- PDF / 268,011 Bytes
- 8 Pages / 612 x 792 pts (letter) Page_size
- 99 Downloads / 226 Views
HT DYNAMICS AND CONTROL OF FLIGHT VEHICLES
A Method of Increasing the Electric Aircraft Flight Range by Reducing Weight during Flight S. V. Aruvellia, * and O. S. Dolgova a
Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University), Volokolamskoe sh. 4, Moscow, 125993 Russia *e-mail: [email protected] Received February 27, 2020; revised June 5, 2020; accepted June 25, 2020
Abstract—A method of increasing the electric aircraft range by ram-air parachute dropping of batteries is proposed. Various options for airdrop of batteries according to a number of drops per flight are considered. A technique is developed of the ram-air parachute design for airdrop of electric aircraft batteries based on the multiobjective genetic algorithm and multidisciplinary feasible (MDF) architecture. DOI: 10.3103/S1068799820030058 Keywords: increasing the aircraft flight range, method of increasing the flight range, electric aircraft, airdrop of batteries, ram-air parachute.
Currently, in the aircraft industry, much attention is paid to fuel efficiency and aircraft emissions. Corporations conduct research and testing of electric aircraft. In 2019, at the International Paris Air Show, the Israeli company Eviation presented a fully electric passenger aircraft Eviation Alice, with a passenger capacity of up to 11 people and a maximum take-off weight of 6350 kg [1]. The largest aircraft manufacturers are also working on electric aircraft projects. Airbus, Rolls-Royce, and Siemens have formed a partnership to develop a hybrid electric aircraft E-Fan X [2], which emphasizes the relevance of the research area. Electric aircraft have several prospects—environmental friendliness (zero emissions, low noise and low heat) and high propulsion system efficiency. However, the problem with all-electric aircraft is the limited range due to the low specific energy of existing batteries compared to aviation fuels and the state of battery technology [3]. In addition, in electric aircraft, when the battery energy is generated, the mass of the aircraft does not decrease, which leads to losses in flight range. Despite the rapid development of battery technologies, the speed of their development is not enough to bring electric aircraft to the performance level of aircraft powered by aviation fuel in the foreseeable future. Therefore, there is a need to develop ways of operating electric aircraft, which will increase the possible range and reduce the gap in the flight performance of such aircraft compared to conventional aircraft without full dependence on the technology of batteries. The problem of the electric aircraft range is addressed in several papers. In [3], M. Hepperle examines the problem of using the electric propulsion systems in aviation, taking into account the mass restrictions and explores the limitations and potential of such systems. In [4], L.W. Traub estimates the range and endurance of electric aircraft by the example of UAVs. Review [5] highlights the possible flight performance and limitations of battery-powered aircraft. Several other wo
Data Loading...
