Engineering Commons^™

Propulsion System Testing For A Long-Endurance Solar-Powered Unmanned Aircraft, D. Dantsker, Robert Deters, Marco Caccamo

Publications

The increase in popularity of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been driven by their use in civilian, education, government, and military applications. However, limited on-board energy storage significantly limits flight time and ultimately usability. The propulsion system plays a critical part in the overall energy consumption of the UAV; therefore, it is necessary to determine the most optimal combination of possible propulsion system components for a given mission profile, i.e. propellers, motors, and electronic speed controllers (ESC). Hundreds of options are available for the different components with little performance specifications available for most of them. In order to determine the …

Optimal Battery Weight Fraction For Serial Hybrid Propulsion System In Aircraft Design, Tsz Him Yeung

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This thesis focuses on electric propulsion technology associated with serial hybrid power plants most commonly associated with urban air mobility vehicles. While closed form analytical solutions for parallel hybrid aviation cases have been determined, optimized serial hybrid power plants have not seen the same degree of fidelity. Presented here are the analytical relationships between several preliminary aircraft design objectives and the battery weight fraction. These design objectives include aircraft weight, range, operation cost, and carbon emissions. The relationships are based on a serial hybrid electric propulsion architecture from an energy standpoint, and can be applied to hybrid aircraft of different …

Advanced Inflatable De-Orbit Solutions For Derelict Satellites And Orbital Debris, Aman Chandra, Greg Wilburn, Jekan Thanga

Space Traffic Management Conference

The exponential rise in small-satellites and CubeSats in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) poses important challenges for future space traffic management. At altitudes of 600 km and lower, aerodynamic drag accelerates de-orbiting of satellites. However, placement of satellites at higher altitudes required for constellations pose important challenges. The satellites will require on-board propulsion to lower their orbits to 600 km and let aerodynamic drag take-over. In this work we analyze solutions for de-orbiting satellites at altitudes of up to 3000 km. We consider a modular robotic de-orbit device that has stowed volume of a regular CubeSat. The de-orbit device would be …

End To End Satellite Servicing And Space Debris Management, Aman Chandra, Himangshu Kalita, Roberto Furfaro, Jekan Thanga

Space Traffic Management Conference

There is growing demand for satellite swarms and constellations for global positioning, remote sensing and relay communication in higher LEO orbits. This will result in many obsolete, damaged and abandoned satellites that will remain on-orbit beyond 25 years. These abandoned satellites and space debris maybe economically valuable orbital real-estate and resources that can be reused, repaired or upgraded for future use. Space traffic management is critical to repair damaged satellites, divert satellites into warehouse orbits and effectively deorbit satellites and space debris that are beyond repair and salvage. Current methods for on-orbit capture, servicing and repair require a large service …

Lasers For Communication And Coordination Control Of Spacecraft Swarms, Himangshu Kalita, Leonard Dean Vance, Vishnu Reddy, Jekan Thanga

Space Traffic Management Conference

Swarms of small spacecraft offer whole new capabilities in Earth observation, global positioning and communications compared to a large monolithic spacecraft. These small spacecraft can provide bigger apertures that increase gain in communication antennas, increase area coverage or effective resolution of distributed cameras and enable persistent observation of ground or space targets. However, there remain important challenges in operating large number of spacecrafts at once. Current methods would require a large number of ground operators monitor and actively control these spacecraft which poses challenges in terms of coordination and control which prevents the technology from scaled up in cost-effective manner. …

Project Atlas: A Mobile Universal Rocket Engine Test Stand, Collin Mickels, Conrad H. Wright, Noah Soderquist, Alona Prokofieva, Sattar Panahandehgar, Naveen Sri Uddanti, Alcuin Rajan

Student Works

Project Atlas is a mobile, trailer-mounted, rocket engine test stand developed by Experimental Rocket Propulsion Lab (ERPL) at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Daytona Beach, Florida campus. The integrated test stand and automated data-acquisition and control system supports ERPL’s multitude of engine research projects, including bipropellant liquid and hybrid rocket engines. The need for an integrated universal mobile test stand stems from the inability to conduct frequent test fires on campus due to Class-3 airspace and liability issues. The test stand is designed as a horizontal thrust structure utilizing a dual flame duct to redirect and cancel reaction forces acting upon the …

Satellite Maintenance: An Opportunity To Minimize The Kessler Effect, Bettina M. Mrusek Dr.

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Recently, there has been an emphasis on the growing problem of orbital debris. While the advantages of placing satellites into space are numerous, advances in satellite technology combined with the growth of the industry have resulted with a significant amount of debris in the orbits surrounding our planet. The harshness of the space environment has also contributed to the debris, as evidenced by the number of objects currently in orbit which are not operational. As the amount of debris grows, so too does the likelihood of collisions, ultimately culminating in the Kessler Effect. However, recent advances in propulsion, advanced navigation, …

Effect Of Chemical Reactions On The Fluidic Thrust Vectoring Of An Axisymmetric Nozzle, Rachid Chouicha, Mohamed Sellam, Said Bergheul

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Abstract:

During the last years, several thrust control systems of aerospace rocket engines have been developed. The fluidic thrust vectoring is one of them; it is simple in design and offers a substantial gain in weight and in performance. Most of studies related to this device were carried out with cold gas. It’s quite legitimate to expect that the thermophysical properties of the gases may affect considerably the flow behavior. Besides, the effects of reacting gases at high temperatures, under their effects all flow parameters like to vary.

This study aims to develop a new methodology that allows studying and …

Simulations On Optimization Of Liquid Spray Burners & Operating Parameters, Pallavi Gajjar, Vinayak Malhotra

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Spray burners form an essential part of any liquid propulsion system as they are responsible for injecting, atomizing, mixing and combusting the liquid fuel. Spray combustion used in aerospace applications like the liquid rocket engines, gas turbines or any other controlled environment for that matter places a huge emphasis on safe and effective operations. These applications make use of relatively small amounts of propellant volumes to generate enormous amounts of energy through combustion for producing thrust. For such cases involving enormous energy interactions, combustion comes with its own set of challenges. The predominant challenge among them all is that of …

Optimization And Analysis Of An Elite Electric Propulsion System, Mehakveer Singh, Kapil Yadav, Satnam Singh, Vikas Chumber, Harikrishna Chavhan

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Abstract- Electric propulsion has a promising system to create new possibilities in this technological era as well as control the harmful gaseous emission. This paper put a vision on several parameters of electric propulsion. The engine’s performance is comparable to the current propulsion devices and provides a lightweight solution to the robust technologies’ dependent on chemical energy sources. There are a plethora of factors which is enhanced by electric propulsion such as, overall efficiency, capabilities, and robustness of future air vehicles as well as mainly overcome from exhaust hazards. Electric propulsion systems have the potential of utilizing the electrically-driven propulsion …

Ultrafine Aluminium: Quench Collection Of Agglomerates, Tejasvi K, Y Pydi Setty, Vemana Venkateswara Rao

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Combustion of aluminized solid propellants exhibits phenomena associated with accumulation, agglomeration, ignition, and combustion of ultra-fine aluminium particles. In this study, agglomeration phenomenon of ultra-fine aluminium in solid propellant combustion is investigated using quench collection experimental technique over the pressure ranges from 2MPa to 8MPa. The ultra-fine aluminium powder synthesized by Radio Frequency Induction Plasma technique having harmonic mean size of 438nm is used for agglomeration study. The quenching distance is varied from 5mm to 71mm from the propellant burning surface to estimate the effect on agglomerate size. The morphology and chemical compositions of the collected products were then studied …

A Thrust Equation Treats Propellers And Rotors As Aerodynamic Cycles And Calculates Their Thrust Without Resorting To The Blade Element Method, Phillip -. Burgers

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The lift generated by a translating wing of known translational speed, lift coefficient and area is calculated by a simple equation. A propeller or rotor generating thrust share the same aerodynamic principles but their different kinematics cause the calculation of their thrust to be laborious. This paper derives a thrust equation from an algebraic expansion of the Prandtl’s dynamic pressure term q_∞by adding the rotational kinetic energy of a propeller or rotor to the existing translational kinetic energy term. This thrust equation can be applied directly to propellers and rotors and assumes these to operate as cycles with …