Aerodynamic Efficiency and Performance Development in an Electric Powered Fixed Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have an important place in today’s technologies because of the solutions they bring to many critical problems in military and civilian application around the world. One of the important advantages of UAVs in aviation, particularly in the military field, is high observation, reconnaissance and pursuit activities. Fixed-wing UAVs, which have many configurations, stand out with their electric motor models owing to their efficiency and flight cost advantages. However, for reconnaissance and pursuit activities, this must be supported by a low cruise flight speed and high aerodynamic efficiency. In this study, it is aimed to reduce flight speed, to increase flight duration and aerodynamic efficiency by designing new modular wing based on flow analysis. Test flights are performed at different angles of attack and new parameters are determined. As a result of experimental studies, cruise flight speed is significantly reduced and pursuit capabilities of UAV is improved. This development has a positive effect on power consumption of electric motor by reducing current drawn by motor and its RPM value. Due to the reduction of power consumption, flight time increased by 36% and the average current drawn decreased by 45% which makes aerodynamic efficiency to be increased.

Keywords:

• unmanned aerial vehicle
• flow analysis
• wing design
• performance optimization

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank to the YTU Lagari Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Student Community for their support on this study.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Berk Kaynak

Berk Kaynak was born in Istanbul/Turkey in 1996. He received his B.Sc. degree from the Department of Mechatronics Engineering and his MSc degree from the Department of Avionics Engineering, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Türkiye in 2019 and 2022 respectively. Since 2022, he has been a Ph.D. student at Department of Electrical Engineering, Yildiz Technical University. Currently, he is working at Turkish Airlines Technic as a senior Engineer. His research interests include unmanned aerial vehicle, robots, and artificial intelligence.

Ahmet Yigit Arabul

Ahmet Yigit Arabul was born in Istanbul/Turkey in 1987. He received his B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Türkiye in 2008, 2011 and 2016, respectively. Since 2020, he has been an Assistant Professor in Department of Electrical Engineering, Yildiz Technical University. Currently, he is working as a Visiting Assistant Professor in University of Waterloo, Canada. His research interests include electrical machines, transformers, renewable energy and high voltage.