Analysis of Flight Energy Variation of Small Solar UAVs Using Dynamic Soaring Technology

结合动态滑翔技术的小型太阳能无人机飞行能量变化分析

School of Aeronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China

Received: 26 January 2019

Abstract

Limited by its low energy capacity, small UAVs have short flight time. Therefore, it is of great significance to improve the endurance performance of small UAVs by applying solar energy technology and dynamic soaring technology which can obtain external energy. This paper analyzes the energy exchange principle of small UAVs using solar energy technology and dynamic soaring technology, and works out the strategy of maximum energy gain. Small UAV flight dynamics model combined with solar power-energy system was built, choosing surround flight path at twilight moment for simulation validation. The advantages of small solar UAV using dynamic soaring technology in energy acquisition in hovering flight and pure dynamic gliding flight are verified, compared with traditional solar vehicle. The significance of combining the two energy acquisition technologies to improve the endurance of small UAV is proved, which provides a basis for further study of all-weather uninterrupted flight in the future.

摘要

小型无人机由于其自身携能能力限制，滞空时间较短，因此通过应用太阳能技术和动态滑翔技术获取外界能量对提升小型无人机续航性能意义重大。结合动态滑翔与太阳能各自的优势，从小型无人机能量交换角度入手，分析了采用太阳能技术与动态滑翔技术的飞行器飞行过程中的能量变化原理，推导了结合2种获能技术的最大能量获取策略。建立了基于梯度风场的小型无人机飞行动力学模型，并将其与太阳能动力能源系统模型相结合，选择太阳能供应相对紧缺的黄昏时刻的环绕飞行轨迹为目标航迹，利用建立的模型进行了仿真验证，验证了结合动态滑翔技术的小型太阳能无人机相对于传统的太阳能飞行器盘旋飞行与纯动态滑翔飞行在能量获取上的优势，证明了结合2种技术对小型无人机续航能力提升的重要意义，为今后进一步研究全天候不间断飞行提供了基础。