Collaborative Payload Lifting using Tethered Unmanned Fixed-Wing Aircraft

使用系留无人固定翼飞机进行协作有效负载提升

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-06655
• 负责人: Rancourt, David
• 金额: $ 1.97万
• 依托单位: Université de Sherbrooke
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=754496
• 关键词: Collaborative; Payload; Lifting; using; Tethered

Helicopters have been essential to modern society as they have been the only solution for air-transporting substantial payloads with no need for complex mile-long runway infrastructures. However, helicopters intrinsically have a low efficiency and are limited to short missions, both in time and distance. Current alternative approaches, such as airships pose storage complexity and limited maneuverability, while novel concepts attempting to increase the rotor disk area to minimize power requirements have reduced capability to translate. A disruptive concept to vertical lift uses tethered fixed-wing aircraft to lift a payload, where each aircraft mimics an individual blade with its own trajectory control. Although radically different from modern helicopters, load lifting using multiple fixed-wing aircraft was proposed as early as 1942. Manned tethered airplanes imposed km-long tethers and challenging coordination between multiple heavy aircraft limited flight path flexibility. As a result, the load capacity was limited and with the requirement for a conventional runway, the interest in the concept has faded. The novel idea is to replace tethered manned aircraft (with onboard energy, fuel) with electric-powered fixed-wing aircraft with remote energy source, which shows similarity with some airborne wind energy concepts. By keeping the energy source (battery and/or generator) in the "payload" section and transmitting the energy through the tethers, the lightweight airplanes have an increased agility and thrust-to-weight ratio allowing for a true vertical takeoff. The use of electric motors on agile aircraft along with modern sensing and control is an enabler for the tethered aircraft to perform complex flight path above the payload, defined as non-circular with continuous variation in airspeed, aircraft attitude, and tether tension. The ability to perform complex flight paths was identified as the main enabler for efficient load lifting with tethered fixed wing in a non-hover condition. Initial numerical studies also demonstrated a 5 times power reduction compared to an equivalent helicopter for similar payload capacity, and preliminary flight tests on a single tethered aircraft support those predictions. The short term objective of this research program is to develop the first small-scale demonstrator of a three electric-powered tethered aircraft concept with complex flight path capability. The work will advance science in three ways, (1) by developing the fundamental knowledge in aerodynamics, dynamics, and controls needed to enable tethered flight systems; (2), by developing the engineering knowhow to design, build, and test such new flight systems, and (3), by providing a complete set of experimental data that is necessary to corroborate the theoretical understanding and to extrapolate on the capabilities of the approach. The proposed project will contribute in training 2 PhD and 3 MSc students in the domain of advanced aircraft design.

直升机对现代社会至关重要，因为它们是唯一的解决实质性有效载荷的解决方案，而无需复杂的跑道基础设施。但是，直升机本质上具有低效率，并且限于时间和距离的短暂任务。当前的替代方法，例如飞艇构成存储复杂性和有限的可操作性，而试图增加转子磁盘区域以最大程度地减少功率要求的新颖概念可以降低翻译的能力。垂直升降机的破坏性概念使用束缚的固定翼飞机来提起有效载荷，每架飞机都以自己的轨迹控制模仿单个刀片。尽管与现代直升机截然不同，但早在1942年就提出了使用多架固定翼飞机的负载举重。载人的束缚飞机施加了KM长的Tethers，并在多个重型飞机之间有限的协调有限的飞行路径灵活性。结果，负载能力是有限的，并且需要传统的跑道，对该概念的兴趣已经消失。这个新颖的想法是用带有远程能源的电动固定翼飞机代替束缚的飞机（带有板载能源，燃料），这与某些机载风能概念相似。通过将能源（电池和/或发电机）保持在“有效载荷”部分中并通过Tethers传输能量，轻质飞机具有更高的敏捷性和推力重量比率，从而可以进行真正的垂直起飞。在敏捷飞机上使用电动机以及现代的感应和控制是束缚飞机在有效载荷上方执行复杂的飞行路径的推动力，该飞行路径定义为无圆形，空速，飞机态度和链球张力的连续变化。执行复杂的飞行路径的能力被确定为在非悬停条件下用束缚固定机翼有效载荷提升的主要推动力。最初的数值研究还表明，与类似有效载荷的等效直升机相比，功率降低了5倍，并且在单个束缚飞机上进行初步飞行测试支持这些预测。 该研究计划的短期目标是开发具有复杂飞行路径能力的三个电动系绳飞机概念的第一个小规模演示器。这项工作将通过三种方式来推进科学，（1）通过发展启用束缚飞行系统所需的空气动力学，动力学和控制的基本知识； （2），通过开发工程专业知识来设计，构建和测试此类新飞行系统，以及（3），提供一组完整的实验数据，这些数据是确认理论理解并推断出能力的理论理解所必需的。方法。拟议的项目将在高级飞机设计领域培训2位博士学位和3名MSC学生。