Conceptual design and multidisciplinary optimisation of power device for solar powered aircraft

Solar-powered aircraft is propelled by a photovoltaic cell that converts solar energy into electrical energy. The extra energy is stored in a rechargeable battery for later use when solar energy is not available. The performance of solar-powered aircraft is limited to solar radiation availability, l...

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Main Author:	Danjuma, Safyanu Bashir
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English English English
Published:	2021
Subjects:	UG622 - 1435 Air forces Air warfare
Online Access:	http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1845/2/SAFYANU%20BASHIR%20DANJUMA%20-%20declaration.pdf http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1845/1/SAFYANU%20BASHIR%20DANJUMA%20-%2024p.pdf http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1845/3/SAFYANU%20BASHIR%20DANJUMA%20-%20fulltext.pdf
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spelling	my-uthm-ep.18452021-10-12T04:09:34Z Conceptual design and multidisciplinary optimisation of power device for solar powered aircraft 2021-05 Danjuma, Safyanu Bashir UG622 - 1435 Air forces. Air warfare Solar-powered aircraft is propelled by a photovoltaic cell that converts solar energy into electrical energy. The extra energy is stored in a rechargeable battery for later use when solar energy is not available. The performance of solar-powered aircraft is limited to solar radiation availability, low efficiency of the photovoltaic cell, and low energy density of the rechargeable battery. The research aims to improve the power device sizing, reduce the aircraft's mass, and improve the flight duration for sustainable flight operations for solar-powered aircraft (CLOUD 1). This was achieved using a multidisciplinary optimisation tool, a commercial package ModeFrontier software. Photovoltaic Geographic information system (PVGIS) software was used to obtain a solar radiation model for Malaysia. The model was used to develop both the energy balance and mission path for Malaysia to facilitate the availability and utilisation of solar energy for successful flight operations. Airfoil analysis was conducted. WE.3.55.9.3 airfoil was the best-chosen airfoil used for the wing design, while the empennage design, NACA 0008, was the most suitable. Hence, the latter was used for horizontal and vertical tail design with XFLR5 v6 software's aid. A novel methodology for the power device sizing was developed on MS Excel with 435.48Wh, 540.96Wh, 32, and 70 as the total required electrical energy, available solar energy, number of solar cells required, and the number of batteries required, respectively. The optimisation strategy embraced ModeFrontier software with the goal set to; minimise total electrical energy required, minimise the total mass, and maximise the available solar energy. The optimisation results show that available solar energy was 283.56Wh, the total electrical power required was 228.32Wh, the number of solar cells was 16, and the number of batteries was 36. The total mass of the aircraft was 2.05 Kg, respectively. The optimisation results achieved 53%, 51%, and 26% reductions in the number of solar cells, the number of batteries, and the aircraft's mass. Also, the flight duration was improved by 33%. The optimal configuration was used to design the solar-powered aircraft (CLOUD I). 2021-05 Thesis http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1845/ http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1845/2/SAFYANU%20BASHIR%20DANJUMA%20-%20declaration.pdf text en staffonly http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1845/1/SAFYANU%20BASHIR%20DANJUMA%20-%2024p.pdf text en public http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1845/3/SAFYANU%20BASHIR%20DANJUMA%20-%20fulltext.pdf text en validuser phd doctoral Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
institution	Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia
collection	UTHM Institutional Repository
language	English English English
topic	UG622 - 1435 Air forces Air warfare
spellingShingle	UG622 - 1435 Air forces Air warfare Danjuma, Safyanu Bashir Conceptual design and multidisciplinary optimisation of power device for solar powered aircraft
description	Solar-powered aircraft is propelled by a photovoltaic cell that converts solar energy into electrical energy. The extra energy is stored in a rechargeable battery for later use when solar energy is not available. The performance of solar-powered aircraft is limited to solar radiation availability, low efficiency of the photovoltaic cell, and low energy density of the rechargeable battery. The research aims to improve the power device sizing, reduce the aircraft's mass, and improve the flight duration for sustainable flight operations for solar-powered aircraft (CLOUD 1). This was achieved using a multidisciplinary optimisation tool, a commercial package ModeFrontier software. Photovoltaic Geographic information system (PVGIS) software was used to obtain a solar radiation model for Malaysia. The model was used to develop both the energy balance and mission path for Malaysia to facilitate the availability and utilisation of solar energy for successful flight operations. Airfoil analysis was conducted. WE.3.55.9.3 airfoil was the best-chosen airfoil used for the wing design, while the empennage design, NACA 0008, was the most suitable. Hence, the latter was used for horizontal and vertical tail design with XFLR5 v6 software's aid. A novel methodology for the power device sizing was developed on MS Excel with 435.48Wh, 540.96Wh, 32, and 70 as the total required electrical energy, available solar energy, number of solar cells required, and the number of batteries required, respectively. The optimisation strategy embraced ModeFrontier software with the goal set to; minimise total electrical energy required, minimise the total mass, and maximise the available solar energy. The optimisation results show that available solar energy was 283.56Wh, the total electrical power required was 228.32Wh, the number of solar cells was 16, and the number of batteries was 36. The total mass of the aircraft was 2.05 Kg, respectively. The optimisation results achieved 53%, 51%, and 26% reductions in the number of solar cells, the number of batteries, and the aircraft's mass. Also, the flight duration was improved by 33%. The optimal configuration was used to design the solar-powered aircraft (CLOUD I).
format	Thesis
qualification_name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.)
qualification_level	Doctorate
author	Danjuma, Safyanu Bashir
author_facet	Danjuma, Safyanu Bashir
author_sort	Danjuma, Safyanu Bashir
title	Conceptual design and multidisciplinary optimisation of power device for solar powered aircraft
title_short	Conceptual design and multidisciplinary optimisation of power device for solar powered aircraft
title_full	Conceptual design and multidisciplinary optimisation of power device for solar powered aircraft
title_fullStr	Conceptual design and multidisciplinary optimisation of power device for solar powered aircraft
title_full_unstemmed	Conceptual design and multidisciplinary optimisation of power device for solar powered aircraft
title_sort	conceptual design and multidisciplinary optimisation of power device for solar powered aircraft
granting_institution	Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia
granting_department	Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
publishDate	2021
url	http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1845/2/SAFYANU%20BASHIR%20DANJUMA%20-%20declaration.pdf http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1845/1/SAFYANU%20BASHIR%20DANJUMA%20-%2024p.pdf http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1845/3/SAFYANU%20BASHIR%20DANJUMA%20-%20fulltext.pdf
_version_	1747830871889543168

Conceptual design and multidisciplinary optimisation of power device for solar powered aircraft

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