Paper Info
Title
Endurance Optimisation of Battery-Powered Rotorcraft
Abstract
This paper proposes a technique to extend the endurance of battery-powered rotorcraft by sub-dividing the monolithic battery into multiple smaller capacity batteries which are sequentially discharged and released. The discarding of consumed battery mass reduces the propulsive power required, thereby contributing towards increased endurance. However, the corresponding implementation introduces additional parasitic mass due to the required battery switching and attachment and release mechanism, which, together with the decrease in battery efficiency with decreasing size, results in endurance improvements only being achieved beyond a threshold payload and which scale with rotorcraft size. An endurance model for battery-powered rotorcraft is presented, together with a technique to determine the maximum endurance and corresponding battery combination, by solving the Knapsack Problem by Dynamic Programming. The theoretical upper bound on rotorcraft endurance, which may be obtained from an ideal "infinitely-divisible" battery, is derived from the Breguet-Range Equation. Theoretical derivations and model predictions are validated through experimental flight tests using a popular commercial quadrotor.
Year
DOI
Venue
2015
10.1007/978-3-319-22416-9_1
Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence
Keywords
Field
DocType
Endurance,Optimisation,Power,Battery,LiPo,UAV,Rotorcraft,Quadrotor,Knapsack problem,Dynamic programming
Dynamic programming,Computer science,Control theory,Simulation,Upper and lower bounds,Knapsack problem,Battery (electricity),Payload
Conference
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
9287
0302-9743
2
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.42
1
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Analiza Abdilla120.42
Arthur Richards226826.94
Stephen G. Burrow331.51