Assessment and comparison of the operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle’s propulsion system based on the different fuel cells

ABSTRACT

With the increasing development of the aviation industry, research into the use of renewable energy and the achievement of an all-electric propulsion system has increased. An all-electric propulsion system can improve Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flight endurance and increase system reliability. Meanwhile, the use of fuel cells as green, efficient, and reliable devices in electric vehicles is more popular. In this regard, the present paper attempts to provide a conceptual study of the performance of a small UAV with a propulsion system comprising a battery and a fuel cell, which in parallel provide an all-electric system. For this purpose, the performances of the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) are evaluated. In addition, UAV’s constraint and mission analysis based on the determination of weight and power distribution are provided. In other words, according to these analyses, the weight percentage of each component of UAV as well as the power consumption in each of the flight phases have been determined. The appropriate size of each fuel cell to power the UAV has been calculated. Moreover, the electrochemical analysis of the fuel cell powered UAV system has been evaluated under the ISA model. The overall results of the research indicate that each cell of PEMFC and SOFC systems under design conditions can produce about 97.5 and 210.3 W of power, respectively. Moreover, the necessary electricity and net weight of the UAV were 1.65 kW and 6.73 kg, respectively. Approximately 48.5% of the UAV’s weight belongs to the propulsion system. Furthermore, the study of the endurance of the fuel cell-based UAV at different energy densities and gravimetric power showed that the UAV’s flight endurance could be approximately 6.7 h.

KEYWORDS:

• UAV propulsion system
• PEM fuel cell
• SOFC
• battery
• international standard atmosphere 1

Nomenclature

Table

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Key Technologies R & D Program of Henan Province (NO. 202102210335/212102210026), the Key Scientific Research Projects of Institutions of Higher Education in Henan Province (NO. 20B413007) and the Science and Technology Program of Henan Province Department of housing and urban rural construction (NO. K-1916).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).