Coelho, Vasco (Academia da Força Aérea Portuguesa), Silva, Pedro (Academia da Força Aérea Portuguesa), Sá, Paulo (Academia da Força Aérea Portuguesa), Caetano, Joao Vieira (Portuguese Air Force Research Center), Félix, Luís (Academia da Força Aérea Portuguesa), Afonso, Frederico (Instituto Superior Técnico), Marta, André Calado (Universidade de Lisboa- Instituto Superior Técnico)

Design of a Tactical eVTOL UAV with a Hydrogen Fuel Cell

Scheduled for presentation during the Regular Session "Energy Efficient UAS" (WeA3), Wednesday, June 22, 2022, 10:50−11:10, Divona-1

2022 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), June 21-24, 2022, Dubrovnik, Croatia

This information is tentative and subject to change. Compiled on April 24, 2024

Abstract

Batteries have a substantial impact on the weight of electric Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). With fuel cells being considered a possible alternative to batteries, the present work aims to design a fixed-wing UAV with vertical take-off and landing capability and a fuel cell-based propulsion system. Building on the tactical requirements of the Portuguese Air Force, this project covers all phases of aerodynamic, structural, and propulsive design, in which Blade element theory, Computational Fluid Dynamics, and Finite element Method analyses were used. The final design resulted in an inverted V-tail, 21.7kg take-off weight UAV capable of three hours of flight time, more than twice the endurance of a battery-propelled version. To further stimulate scientific knowledge sharing, the authors have made all simulations and Computational Aided Designs available to the public via repository.