Computer simulation of an unmanned aerial vehicle electric propulsion system

• Main Author: Yourkowski, Joel.
• Other Authors: Jovan Lebaric E.
• Language: en_US
• Published: Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School 2012
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10945/8137

Approved for public release; distribution in unlimited. === There has been a substantial increase in the use of electric propulsion systems in Unmannned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). However, this area of engineering has lacked the benefits of a dynamic model that could be used to optimize the design. configurations and flight profiles. The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has accurate models for the aerodynamics associated with UAVs. Therefore the proposed electric propulsion model would use the torque and RPM requirements generated by the aerodynamic model and provide an accurate representation of the desired UAV electric propulsion system. This thesis reports on the development of such a model. The model is adaptive in the sense that motor and battery parameters can be altered by the user to reflect systems currently in use or those considered for future systems. Not only will the simulation model accurately reflect the operating conditions of the motor and battery during the mission, but different flight profiles with the same configuration can be evaluated in terms of efficiency based on the Percent Battery Capacity Used (PBCU) at the end of the mission. This Electric Propulsion Simulator is part of a larger NRL project intended to design and deliver UAVs to the Naval Service over the next few years