The limited onboard energy storage in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) significantly limits flight time and eventual availability.
The propulsion system plays a critical role in the overall energy consumption of the UAV; therefore, it is necessary to determine the most appropriate combination of possible propulsion system components such as propellers, motors and electronic speed controllers (ESC) for a given mission profile. The motor and propeller manufacturer’s data gives you some values. However, because the conditions and standards of these tests are not specific, relying on these data means putting the aircraft at risk.
What Are The Propulsion Systems of Air Vehicles?
The propulsion systems used in electric aircraft are as follows.
- Motor
- Propeller
- Battery
- Electronic Speed Controller (ESC)
How Are Propulsion Systems Tested?
Propulsion systems are carried out with a test stand suitable for the range where the tests will take place. Installation of the propulsion system on the test stand is provided by Dynotis with an easy mounting interface. After the assembly, a connection is made to the test computer via the application with a wired or wireless method and the test is performed.
What Are The Benefits of Testing Air Vehicle Propulsion Systems?
Here are just a few of the reasons why you should test your motors and propellers (expanded below):
- You can diagnose problems in your propulsion system. In this way, you can solve possible problems that may be encountered during the flight without accident-breaking.
- Not only before the flight and design, but also during the flight process, performing tests at certain intervals reduces the accident rate and increases the flight performance.
- Testing your motor and propeller is very important to determine the possible risk of icing and its negative impact on the propulsion system. These tests also determine whether the drone needs de-icing products.
- Determining the correct modifications and correct flight regimes with the propulsion tests to be performed will provide you longer airtime. In this way, your UAV can perform its mission for a longer time on a single charge. Tests revealed that different motor-propeller combinations can be preferred with the same efficiency to design lighter aircraft.
- With thrust tests, we determine not only the thrust values, but also the vibration of the whole structure, and control the efficiency of the configuration you use in your selections. A high vibration is an indication of poor system performance.
- Finally, these impulse tests provide test data that you can present to your investors and potential customers. You can graph your test data and compare different modifications.
- With this test, you can perform thrust tests suitable for the application area and task of your products and determine their behavior during the test.
Is It Possible To Test Propulsion Systems of Air Vehicles Without The Need For Wind Tunnels?
Wind tunnels are indispensable test systems for simulating real weather conditions and determining aircraft performance. In addition, these systems are very costly and it is not possible to be constantly accessible. For this reason, alternatives to tests performed in Wind Tunnels are also available for dynamic thrust tests. Dynotis; The on-board kit provides you with a wind speed and direction meter. You can perform your tests in real weather conditions without being dependent on wind tunnels.
