The interest in electrically-driven propeller airplanes has been steadily increasing over the last 15 years with applications ranging from small electric remotely piloted vehicles up to large high-altitude/long-endurance aircraft, passing through general aviation size airplanes powered by means of hydrogen fuel cells. Unfortunately, the extension of the results valid for conventional configurations to electrically powered aircraft is not always straightforward. As a matter of fact, the determination of the best range flight condition for piston props as the minimum drag airspeed is carried out by maximizing the specific range, taking into account weight variations induced by fuel consumption. On the converse, the weight of electrically powered aircraft is constant during cruise. This is especially true for battery operated aircraft, but an approximation of constant weight also holds when hydrogen fuel cells are employed, inasmuch as only negligible variations of aircraft weight are expected, since the mass fraction of hydrogen being negligibly small.

Maximum range for battery-powered aircraft

AVANZINI, Giulio;
2013-01-01

Abstract

The interest in electrically-driven propeller airplanes has been steadily increasing over the last 15 years with applications ranging from small electric remotely piloted vehicles up to large high-altitude/long-endurance aircraft, passing through general aviation size airplanes powered by means of hydrogen fuel cells. Unfortunately, the extension of the results valid for conventional configurations to electrically powered aircraft is not always straightforward. As a matter of fact, the determination of the best range flight condition for piston props as the minimum drag airspeed is carried out by maximizing the specific range, taking into account weight variations induced by fuel consumption. On the converse, the weight of electrically powered aircraft is constant during cruise. This is especially true for battery operated aircraft, but an approximation of constant weight also holds when hydrogen fuel cells are employed, inasmuch as only negligible variations of aircraft weight are expected, since the mass fraction of hydrogen being negligibly small.
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11587/377948
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 45
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 31
social impact