Efficiency Optimization and Component Selection for Propulsion Systems of Electric Multicopters

• Published in: IEEE transactions on industrial electronics (1982) Vol. 66; no. 10; pp. 7800 - 7809
• Main Authors: Dai, Xunhua, Quan, Quan, Ren, Jinrui, Cai, Kai-Yuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.10.2019; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Batteries; Brushless motors; Computer simulation; Design factors; Durability; Efficiency; Endurance; Hovering; Mathematical model; multicopter; Optimization; optimization design; Propellers; propulsion system; Propulsion systems; unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
• ISSN: 0278-0046; 1557-9948
• DOI: 10.1109/TIE.2018.2885715

Currently, the time of endurance of electric multicopters is still too short for many mission requirements, and optimizing the efficiency of the propulsion system is considered as an effective way to overcome this problem. This paper proposes a practical method to help designers quickly select the optimal products of the propulsion system to maximize the multicopter efficiency under the desired flight condition. First, the modeling methods for the components of the propulsion system are studied respectively to describe the optimization problem mathematically. Second, methods are proposed to find optimal motor and propeller combination with the maximum thrust efficiency according to the given design requirements. Finally, factors that may affect the hovering time of multicopters are analyzed, and the optimal battery parameters are obtained for maximizing the multicopter endurance. Experiments and simulations are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed method.