Hover performance estimation and validation of battery powered vertical takeoff and landing aircraft

Battery powered vertical takeoff and landing(VTOL) aircraft attracts more and more interests from public, while limited hover endurance hinders many prospective applications. Based on the weight models of battery, motor and electronic speed controller, the power consumption model of propeller and the constant power discharge model of battery, an efficient method to estimate the hover endurance of battery powered VTOL aircraft was presented. In order to understand the mechanism of performance improvement, the impacts of propulsion system parameters on hover endurance were analyzed by simulations, including the motor power density, the battery capacity, specific energy and Peukert coefficient. Ground experiment platform was established and validation experiments were carried out, the results of which showed a well agreement with the simulations. The estimation method and the analysis results could be used for optimization design and hover performance evaluation of battery powered VTOL aircraft.

Retarded Harrier Maneuver as a New and Efficient Approach for Fixed-Wing Aircraft to Achieve S/VTOL

Modern day VTOL fixed-wing aircraft based on quadplane design is relatively simple and reliable due to lack of complex mechanical components compared to tilt-wings or tilt-rotors in the pre-80’s era. Radio-controlled aerobatic airplanes have thrust-to-weight ratio of greater than unity and are capable of performing a range of impressive maneuvers including the so-called harrier maneuver. We hereby present a new maneuver known as the retarded harrier that is applicable to un/manned fixed-wing aircraft for achieving VTOL flight with a better forward flight performance than a quadplane in terms of weight, speed and esthetics. An airplane with tandem roto-stabilizers is also presented as an efficient airframe to achieve VTOL via retarded harrier maneuver, and detailed analysis is given for hovering at 45° and 60° and comparison is made against the widely adopted quadplane. This work also includes experimental demonstration of retarded harrier maneuver using a small remotely pilot airplane of wingspan 650 mm.

Overall eVTOL aircraft design for urban air mobility

Electric vertical takeoff and landing(eVTOL)aircraft have emerged as a potential alternative to the existing transportation system,offering a transition from two-dimensional commuting and logistics to three-dimensional mobility.As a groundbreaking innovation in both the automotive and aviation sectors,eVTOL holds significant promise but also presents notable challenges.This paper aims to address the overall aircraft design(OAD)approach specifically tailored for eVTOL in the context of Urban Air Mobility(UAM).In contrast to traditional OAD methods,this study introduces and integrates disciplinary methodologies specifically catered to eVTOL aircraft design.A case study is conducted on a tilt-duct eVTOL aircraft with a typical UAM mission,and the disciplinary performance,including initial sizing,aerodynamics,electric propulsion systems,stability and control,weight,mission analysis and noise,is examined using the OAD methodologies.The findings demonstrate that the current approach effectively evaluates the fundamental aircraft-level performance of eVTOL,albeit further high-fidelity disciplinary analysis and optimization methods are required for future MDO-based eVTOL overall aircraft design.

Comprehensive sizing and optimization method for series-hybrid unmanned convertiplane

This paper presents a novel sizing and optimization approach for the emerging serieshybrid unmanned convertiplane,which can be used to translate the top-level design requirements into the design parameters corresponding to the optimal power supply strategy and minimum total takeoff weight.The method comprehensively considers the design constraints in the rotor,fixedwing,and transition modes,and pays special attention to the characteristic response of Series Hybrid Electric System(S-HES)in complex application scenarios,especially the coupling of battery power,energy,and state-of-charge under high-power discharge conditions,the variation of fuel economy,and the adjustment of power supply strategy.With proposed method,it's possible to rapidly explore the design space in the initial design stage and find out the optimal design results with high confidence.A case study was proposed to verify the approach.The results reveal the particularity of convertiplane in terms of power requirements,and prove the necessity to consider detailed S-HES characteristic responses during parameter determination.The optimal design parameters were obtained through the hybrid control parameter optimization,which verified the effectiveness of proposed method.Possible errors and corresponding correction methods were also presented.

Quasi-three-dimensional high-lift wing design approach considering three-dimensional effects of slipstream for distributed electric propulsion aircraft

The efficient utilization of propeller slipstream energy is important for improving the ultra-short takeoff and landing capability of Distributed Electric Propulsion(DEP)aircraft.This paper presents a quasi-three-dimensional(2.5D)high-lift wing design approach considering the three-dimensional(3D)effects of slipstream for DEP aircraft,aiming at maximizing the comprehensive lift enhancement benefit of the airframe-propulsion coupling unit.A high-precision and efficient momentum source method is adopted to simulate the slipstream effects,and the distributed propellers are replaced by a rectangular actuator disk to reduce the difficulty of grid generation and improve the grid quality.A detailed comparison of the 2.5D and 3D configurations based on the X-57 ModⅣis performed in terms of flow characteristics and computational cost to demonstrate the rationality of the above design approach.The optimization results of the high-lift wing of the X-57 ModⅣshow that the aerodynamic performance of the landing configuration is significantly improved,for instance,the lift coefficient increases by 0.094 at the angle of attack of 7°,and 0.097 at the angle of attack of 14°.This novel approach achieves efficient and effective design of high-lift wings under the influence of distributed slipstream,which has the potential to improve the design level of DEP aircraft.