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Analysis of a hydrogen fuel cell-PV power system

for small UAV

Mohamed Gadalla*, Sayem Zafar

Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United
Arab Emirates

article info abstract

Article history: This paper investigates the integration of a hybrid power system for a small unmanned
Received 3 August 2015 aerial vehicle (UAV). The proposed hybrid power system consists of hydrogen fuel cell,
Received in revised form photovoltaic panels and battery. The UAV is modeled to have photovoltaic panels covering
20 February 2016 the wing area, proton exchange membrane fuel cell and a lithium-polymer battery. A small
Accepted 21 February 2016 UAV is used for the study that has low takeoff weight and small dimensions to make the
Available online xxx UAV man-portable. Analyses are conducted using data acquired through bench tests of the
power systems and simulations. Using drag, lift and weight values, the power required by
Keywords: the UAV is determined. Best test measurements and simulations are conducted for the
Hydrogen fuel cell maximum required power. The flight performance of the UAV improved with the hybrid
Unmanned aerial vehicle power system. The UAV endurance increased from 470 min to 970 min. The research study
PV panels shows the usefulness of hybrid power system for a small UAV. Finally, the paper also es-
Hybrid power system tablishes the effectiveness of using renewable energy sources for mobile applications.
Enhanced endurance UAV Copyright 2016, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights
reserved.

energy density compared to small combustion engines and

Introduction
The use of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has
increased recently [1]. The existing small scale power sources,
used in UAVs, do not provide enough energy to enable long
endurance [2]. Current electric power storage technologies,
through batteries, do not provide the desired energy for long
endurance without adding substantial weight [3]. Improving
the flight endurance of a UAV is important as it expands the
operational capability and usage of a UAV. Long endurance
small UAVs are in demand as they can be operated at low cost
for increased service span.
Fuel cells are seen as alternate to electric batteries as a
potential power source for UAVs. Fuel cells have higher
electric batteries [4]. Fuel cells also appear to be more efficient
power sources for long endurance UAV flights compared to
conventional batteries [5]. Compared to existing UAV tech-
nology, fuel cell powered UAV results in endurance increase
of 4e5 times [2]. There are different types of fuel cells
depending on the type of fuel they use. Proton exchange
membrane fuel cell seems to be the best solution for low
power, weight and exhaust temperatures. The proton ex-
change membrane (PEM) fuel cell uses hydrogen to produce
DC electric current and water as emission while operating at
low temperature [6].
As a UAV power system, fuel cell has shown that it can
sustain flight for an hour and can meet the load demand from
the UAV [7]. Ion Tiger fuel cell powered UAV even flew for 24 h

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 971 50 514 4440; fax: 971 6 515 2979.
E-mail address: mgadalla@aus.edu (M. Gadalla).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.02.129
0360-3199/Copyright 2016, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Gadalla M, Zafar S, Analysis of a hydrogen fuel cell-PV power system for small UAV, International
Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.02.129
2 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 6 ) 1 e1 1
successfully meeting the load demand of a 24 kg UAV [8]. Fuel
cells of 500 W power have also been used for a UAV which not
only allowed steady cruise flight but also provided enough
power to perform high power acceleration and climb [9].
Research using alkaline hydrogen generator with PEM fuel cell
can give UAV endurance up to 2 h [10]. Endurance of small
UAVs can be further enhanced by using photovoltaic (PV)
panels along with batteries and fuel cells. PV panels on a UAV
can collect the solar energy to charge the batteries on board
the UAV [11]. PV panels use solar energy to convert it into
electricity which eliminates the fuel weight and provides free
clean energy for the UAV [12,13]. UAVs with PV panels have
been tested for very long range flights and high power output
to run the auxiliary electrical loads [13].
Hybrid PV-fuel cell systems have been tested for land based
applications. The results have shown efficiency improvement
compared to non-hybrid systems [14]. Hybrid system using PV
panels and gas turbine improves the operating efficiency
however the gravimetric power density is lower for such
hybrid systems compared to the power systems in widespread
use today [15]. Hybrid power systems have been extensively
studied for mobile applications for their usability, perfor-
mance and integration. With recent advancements in elec-
tronics and increase in demand, hybrid electric vehicles are
becoming cost effective while being environmentally benign
[16]. Limited research is conducted to study the improvement
in UAVs flight performance when hybrid PV-fuel cell power
system is used. Tests of a UAV using fuel cell and PV have been
conducted and show such integration improves the perfor-
mance of the UAV and such systems can be successfully in-
tegrated [17]. Utilizing a hybrid PV-fuel cell system can help to
maintain higher overall efficiency and the highest efficiency is
not achieved when the highest power is available [18]. For a
small UAV hybrid PV-fuel cell system can improve the
endurance up to 22% [19].
Studies have been conducted on the design and imple-
mentation on fuel cell powered aircraft. However there is very
little information available regarding the endurance increase,
if a hybrid fuel cell-PV panel power system is used in a small
UAV. This paper studies the novel design and analyses of a PV-
fuel cell powered hybrid UAV and the increase in endurance of
the UAV. Modeled systems are explained and bench test re-
sults of the motorepropeller system are presented. Basic
equations of the systems are presented and the experimental
results are compared with the data provided by the manu-
facturer. A novel power sourcing system is proposed and
analyzed which helps in improving the UAV endurance. A
parametric study is also conducted to present the change in
endurance when solar flux and required motor power changes.
Description
No existing design was available for a UAV to accommodate
the PV-fuel cell system. Hence a small UAV is specially
designed to demonstrate the feasibility of using fuel cell-PV
power system. The size of the UAV is kept small and its
weight is limited to 100 N to make it man-portable so that it
can be used on field with limited support systems. A
maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 100 N is chosen for the
Please cite this article in press as: Gadalla M, Zafar S, Analysis of a hydrogen fuel cell-PV power system for small UAV, International
Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.02.129
UAV to make it man-portable; being light enough to be carried
over long distances, and yet big enough to allow for fuel cell
and PV panels to be installed in it. The UAV is designed to have
the maximum possible number of PV panels that can be
attached to its structure. Finally, wing and horizontal stabi-
lizer geometries are chosen to house the PV panels.
Wing and tail
Using successful designs of previous small UAVs and the
primary conceptual design characteristics for a small UAV,
dimensions of the UAV are chosen [20].
For any flying object, lift is of utmost concern. For a fixed
wing aircraft like the one considered in this study, wings
create the desired lift. Since a wing is a structure of finite
length with airfoil cross-sections, a pressure difference is
created between the lower and upper sides, producing lift.
Aerodynamics in 3-D are used since it deals with the span
wise effect on the airfoil's aerodynamic coefficients. Lift is
particularly important since lift coefficient does not remain
the same for a finite structure. At the tips, air flows around the
tips from the lower side to the upper side because of the dif-
ference in pressure. This phenomenon causes a flow compo-
nent in the span wise direction, affecting the chord-wise
streamline. Because of the disturbance, airfoil lift coefficient is
not the same as that of the entire wing. The governing equa-
tion that describes the total lift is presented as follows:
r
L S v2 CL (1)
2
Subsonic airfoils experience drag due to different reasons.
The dominant drag for low subsonic speed wing is induced
drag, which is due to the lift component. The other form of
drag is the parasite drag, which exist because to the skin
friction plus a small viscous pressure separation. Since the
parasitical drag component is relatively small hence the
pressure separation factor even smaller, tip leakage for the
finite blade can be considered negligible. This consideration
allows for the use of the same profile drag coefficient for the
wing, as for the airfoil such that,
1
CD Cd C2L (2)
peAR
where e is the Oswald efficiency factor, AR is the aspect ratio
and Cd is the 2 D coefficient of drag.
Aspect ratio is a ratio between the blade span squared to
the planform area of the blade. An aerodynamic trend is found
leaning towards high aspect ratio because of being an efficient
way to reduce drag. Values found in the literature suggested a
range of 8e10 for sail plane wings [21]. The equation that re-
lates aspect ratio to other geometric parameters is as follows:
b2
AR (3)
S
Rectangular, non-twisted wing is desirable because such
geometry would enable accommodating most commercially
available PV panels. Such geometry would also have more PV
area while having reduced manufacturing cost and
manufacturing complexity. Once the aspect ratio AR and
span, b, values are known, planform area, S, is determined
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 6 ) 1 e1 1 3

using Equation (1). Planform area is used to determine the

chord c using Equation (4).

S c$b (4)

A T-tail configuration is chosen for the UAV since such

configuration enables a long continuous PV panel to be
mounted on the UAV tail. A single continuous PV panel would
yield more power than two different ones covering the same
area. T-tail also helps keep the tail away from the wing wake,
in turn, ensuring that the tail remains effective. Chord and
span of the horizontal stabilizer is fixed to comply with the
chosen commercially available flexible PV panels.
Fig. 1 shows the three principal views of the CAD drawing
of the UAV used in this study. The fuselage is designed to have
the systems and sub-systems related to flight. The wings and
horizontal stabilizer is designed to be covered by the PV
panels. Table 1 describes the features of the UAV designed for
the hybrid PV-fuel cell system.

Power system modeling

The power to propel the aircraft comes from the propulsion

system comprising of several components. Electric power
system is used for the model small UAV since other types of
power systems are bulky, heavy and have low power to weight
ratio which makes them undesirable for small power outputs
[2,4]. The modeled UAV requires high power for take-off, climb
and initial maneuvering which can be provided by the initial
charge stored in the battery at the time of take-off. During
cruise, the power required by the UAV is low and constant
which can be provided by the hybrid PV-fuel cell system.
The power system for the UAV includes a single electric
motor, a controller and a propeller in a pusher configuration.
The motor gets the power from either the fuel cell or from the
battery, depending on the battery charge. Power system
components are commercially available and are suitably used
to achieve the desired goal of maximizing the endurance. The
power system consists of the following elements:
 Motor
 Propeller
 Microcontroller
 Battery
 Propeller
 PV-panels
 Fuel Cell
Fig. 1 e Three principal views of the small UAV design.
This sequence continues until the hydrogen on board the UAV
runs out.
Motor
Electric motor is a device that converts the electrical energy to
mechanical energy. The motor takes the electrical energy from
either the battery or from the fuel cell to provide the required
rotation to the installed propeller. Since the battery or the fuel
cell produces DC current, a DC motor is required to avoid the use
of a power inverter. For an ideal DC motor, current, Im, voltage,
Vm and rotational speed, u, can be related as follows [22].
Vm KV u 2Rm Im (5)
where u is the rotational speed of the shaft and KV is the motor
speed constant. The constant KV is the voltage required for
each revolution hence it varies for the type of propeller used.
Value for Vm is determined by the battery type used while the
no-load KV and Rm are provided by the motor manufacturer.
Tests are conducted to find out the I that would yield the
required cruise thrust.

The UAV power system is modeled only for the cruise

phase and it is assumed that the charge stored in the battery
Table 1 e Description of the UAV designed for the hybrid
gets completely consumed during take-off. Since the UAV has
PV-fuel cell system.
two different sources of power, PV panels and fuel cell, a mi-
Structural mass 2.5 kg
crocontroller is required to alternate the modes of operation of
MTOW 100 N
the power source from fuel cell to PV panels and vice versa.
Wing span 3.83 m
Fig. 2 depicts the schematic of the above described meth- Wing chord 0.425 m
odology. The microcontroller switches between fuel cell and Horizontal stabilizer span 1.4 m
the battery as the motor power source. When the battery Horizontal stabilizer chord 0.35 m
voltage drops to nominal, the power switches to the fuel cell. Total lift 100 N (cruise condition)
Once the battery gets charged through PV panels, the micro- Thrust 37.7 N
Drag 14 N
controller switches the motor power source to the battery.

Please cite this article in press as: Gadalla M, Zafar S, Analysis of a hydrogen fuel cell-PV power system for small UAV, International
Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.02.129
4 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 6 ) 1 e1 1
Fig. 2 e Schematic of the small UAV's hybrid power
system.
Even though the study is conducted for UAV's cruise con-
dition, the motor has to be strong enough to provide the take-
off and maneuvering power requirements. Considering the
power requirement of the UAV, availability, efficiency and
weight of the motor, AXI motors are selected for the UAV.
These motors have an advertised efficiency of more than 90%
at high power levels [23]. AXi motor website can determine the
most feasible motor according to the UAV weight and type
[24]. The input values are model type and ready to fly mass.
For the UAV under consideration, model type would be sail
plane since the UAV is modeled for long endurance. The
ready to fly weight is the finished weight of the UAV, which
includes structure, on board systems and payload.
Fig. 3 shows the screenshot of the resulted setup. The
search results in Fig. 3 showed that AXi 5325/24 is the most
appropriate motor for the desired UAV. The motor is chosen
based on manufacturer status, performance, availability, di-
mensions and good power to mass ratio. Table 2 shows the
parameters related to AXi 5325/24 motor.
Propeller
Propeller converts the engine power to thrust. In other words, it
relates the motor speed with thrust. As shown in Fig. 3, APC
20  13 is suggested for use of the designed aircraft. The first
Please cite this article in press as: Gadalla M, Zafar S, Analysis of a hydrogen fuel cell-PV power system for small UAV, International
Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.02.129
Fig. 3 e Suggested motor by AXi for 'sail plane' and
maximum weight of 100 N.
Table 2 e Parameter for AXi 5325/24 motor.
AXi 5325/24
Mass 0.575 kg
Diameter 0.063 m
Length 0.059 m
Rm 0.045 Ohm
KV 0.0043 Vm/RPM
Maximum current 75 Amps
pair of digits represents the diameter of the propeller while the
other set represents the pitch of the propeller. The units of both
the dimensions are inches. The pitch of a propeller is the dis-
tance the propeller would travel in one revolution, assuming no
pull and no slip. For the aircraft, a propeller with the diameter of
20 inch and the pitch of 13 inch is selected. Due to their light
weight, performance and availability, APC Electric E two-blade
propeller is used as the aircraft propeller. APC 20  13 pro-
pellers has variable geometry and changing airfoil shape.
PV panels
The electric power, which can be extracted from a PV panel,
depends on three broad parameters. The PV area A of the
panels exposed to sunlight, solar flux ST of the location and
the efficiency h of the designed panels. The extracted electric
power Pele is a product of the maximum voltage Vm, and the
maximum current Im.
Pele Vmax Imax h St A (6)
and the PV panel efficiency is defined as,
Pele
h (7)
ST
For the designed UAV, required PV panels should be thin,
flexible, light weight, high efficiency and economically
affordable. The panel's flexibility is of high importance
because the wings have curvature and the panel has to take
the wing's shape. A non-flexible PV panel would reduce the
amount of lift generation from the wings hence effect the
aircraft performance. Low weight is required since the aircraft
weight needs to be as low as possible. The thickness of the
panel can affect the wing shape and structural design since a
thicker panel would require a shorter rib height. An
economical and highest efficiency panel is required as it
would generate high electrical power and yet still have an
affordable price.
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 6 ) 1 e1 1 5

Two WaveSol Light 2 m PV panels and a single 1 m PV panel is

Table 4 e Characteristics of AEROPAK fuel cell with Type I
used in this study. The 2 m PV panels are for each wing and the
cartridge.
1 m panel for the horizontal stabilizer. The UAV system is
AEROPAK fuel cell
modeled using solar flux of 1 kW/m2. WaveSol Light PV panels
are considered for this research because of their relative light Continuous output power 200 W
weight, high current and compatible voltage output. They also Continuous current 10 Amps
Output voltage range 20e32 V
have a convenient width which can easily be mounted on the
Mass 0.470 kg
UAV wings and stabilizer. Table 3 lists some of the character- Lifetime at rated power 500 h
istics and modeled power output of the described PV panels [25]. Operating temperature 0e40  C

Fuel Cartridge
Fuel cell
Energy 900 Wh
PEM fuel cells are good for low power levels and for applica-
Hydrate weight 1.55 kg
tions that require rapid start-up and quick response to load
Dry weight 0.55 kg
change [26]. Since a UAV needs to adjust to flight conditions, a
quick response to change in power requirement is essential.
the capacity of the battery to its discharge time can be pre-
The designed study aims at switching on and off the fuel cell
sented as follows [31]:
on a regular bases, hence a rapid start-up is also a desired
feature. PEM fuel cells have low operating temperature, solid  k
Q
phase electrolyte and the ability to operate with CO2 in the air tH (9)
IH
stream which makes them the most appropriate type of fuel
cell for use in aerial vehicles [27,28]. The power produced by where H is the rated discharge time, Q is the rated capacity at
the fuel cell stack is given by following equation [29]: that discharge rate, I is the actual discharge current, k is the
Peukert constant and t is the actual time to discharge the
W_ stack Voperating i Acell ncell (8) battery. To store the charge from PV panels, LiPo 5000 mAh e
20/30 battery is modeled. Table 5 shows the selected battery's
where Voperating is the operating cell voltage, ncell is the number
specifications.
of fuel cells inside the stack, Acell is the area of the each cell
A microcontroller is then used to control the motor power
and i is the current density.
input and switch the mode of operation between battery and
Horizon Energy Systems' AEROPAK is modeled as the fuel
fuel cell. When the battery voltage drops below nominal, the
cell for the UAV. AEROPAK is a proton exchange membrane
microcontroller switches to fuel cell. Finally, once the battery
fuel cell which is light weight, has proven performance, small
gets recharged by the PV panels, the microcontroller switches
size and good hydrogen capacity [30]. Some of the prominent
to battery as the motor power source.
features of AEROPAK are tabulated in Table 4.

Power management system Propeller model

Power management system is a management system that is
essential to control the flow of power to the motor. The power A basic system modeling is conducted to predict the perfor-
management system includes a microcontroller and a lithium mance trend of the motorepropeller system. The primary
polymer (LiPo) battery. In addition, the power management purpose of the modeling is to explore the motorepropeller
system monitors and controls the storage and delivery of the system's behavior at a wide range of thrust requirements.
energy drawn from the solar panels. The equation that relates Modeling results are then validated by comparing them with
the results acquired from the tests. The governing equation
that defines the thrust produced at the propeller is given as
Table 3 e Specification of the PV panels used in the follows:
modeling.
T C t r n 2 D4 (10)
2 m Module
where T is thrust, Ct is coefficient of thrust, r is density of air, n
Nominal power (Pmax) 50 W
is the rotational speed in revolutions per second and D is the
Voltage at Pmax 17.3 V
Current at Pmax 2.9 Amps
Length 1.88 m
Width 0.33 m Table 5 e Specification of the battery used for the UAV
Weight 1.3 kg power system.
Thickness 1.2  103 m
LiPo 5000 mAh e 20/30
1 m Module
Number of cells 7
Nominal power (Pmax) 24 W Capacity 5 Ah
Voltage at Pmax 16.7 V Voltage per cell 3.7 V
Current at Pmax 1.45 Amps Mass 0.6 kg
Length 0.995 m Length 0.115 m
Width 0.33 m Width 0.07 m
Weight 0.65 kg Height 0.04 m
Thickness 1.2  103 m Resistance per cell 4.5  103 Ohms

Please cite this article in press as: Gadalla M, Zafar S, Analysis of a hydrogen fuel cell-PV power system for small UAV, International
Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.02.129
6 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 6 ) 1 e1 1

diameter of the propeller. Equation (6) yields a major road

block since thrust, coefficient of thrust and rotational speed
are unknown. No simple solution exists to directly relate the
known variables. A more suitable option to attain more pre-
cise data, for comparison, is to use propeller manufacturer's
provided data [24].
Fig. 4 shows the manufacturer's data for APC 20  13
propeller at zero free stream velocity. Manufacturer's data for
the desired propeller is then used to find out the thrust at the
desired rotational speeds. Using MS Excel, a curve of best
fit is used to generate a 6-degree polynomial equation as
follows,
Thrust 8E-05x6  0.001x5  0.0046x4 0.1091x3  0.0267x2
0.7606x  0.3899 (11)
The yielded equation has thrust in y-axis while propeller
RPM in x-axis as shown in Fig. 4. Equation (11) is then used to
generate the predicted thrust for desired RPM readings for test
result comparison.
Experiment
The current and voltage of the chosen motorepropeller sys-
tem needs to be determined for a variety of throttle settings.
The bench tests, under ambient conditions, are then con-
ducted to determine the required current, at stable voltage, to
yield the needed thrust for the designed aircraft. The shaft
rotational speed reading is also recorded as it relates the
mechanical power to electrical power input. A 6s battery is
used to provide electric power to the motor with Castle Cre-
ation 80 Amps high voltage controller.
Fig. 5 shows the schematic of the bench test conducted to
determine the output RPM and thrust battery output current
and voltage. The amount of current required for the desired
thrust cannot be modeled so bench tests are necessary. The
battery output current varies as the throttle is changed.
Changing throttle settings either increase or decrease the
thrust generated by the motorepropeller setup.
60
6 values since the actual required thrust could vary depending
50
5 conditions where the desired thrust is at its minimum. For the
40
4
Thrust (lbf)
Fig. 5 e Bench test schematic lay-out of the UAV's power
system.
Experimental setup
A test bench is set-up on which a stand is connected to hold
the motorepropeller system to the table. A mount is designed
and fabricated, for AXi 5325/24 motor, to attach the motore-
propeller system to the stand. The mount is connected with a
load cell to measure thrust force produced by the propeller.
The load cell ELFF-T2M-100N, from Measurement Specialties,
is used to measure thrust force. The instrument has a
maximum load capability of 100 N. The electronic speed
controller used for the experiment is Phoenix ICE HV 85 from
Castle Creation. The current and voltage are read through on
board power supply unit's ammeter and voltmeter.
The EagleTree eLogger V3 with MPRV3-LEADS-100 is used for
electric current and voltage readings. The EagleTree eLogger V3
is capable to log current up to 100 Amps and voltage from
about 5 V to 70 V [32]. Current is measured with Halls effect
sensor hence the current sensor does not interfere with the
electric power. The eLogger plugs to a computer and runs with
its provided software.
The EagleTree Optical RPM sensor is used to take rotational
speed readings for the motoreprop system. The RPM sensor
plugs to eLogger hence the readings appear on the computer
screen. The sensor contains an infra-red light source and an
infra-red detector. The EagleTree Optical RPM sensor works by
reflecting the infra-red light on the rotating surface. The
rotating surface should have alternating dark and light sur-
faces. The detector reads the reflected signal and interprets it
into reading.
Results and discussion
Bench tests are conducted to determine the current required
by the motorepropeller system to generate the desired thrust.
The tests are conducted on an estimated range of thrust
on the flight envelope. The analysis is conducted for cruise
cruise phase, the speed is determined at 17 m/s, drag at 14 N
and weight of 100 N. The cruise condition is described as the

30
3 phase of the flight where the aircraft is in steady level flight
with lateral, longitudinal or rotational movements.
20
2

Test results
10
1

0 Fig. 6 shows the relationship between generated thrust

0 2 4 6 8 100 against propeller's rotational speed. The graph compares the
manufacturer's data, using Equation (11), with the results
Propeller
P RP
PM (in thou
usands)
attained in the experiment. The graph of both the data sets
Fig. 4 e Trend of the data provided by APC for their 20 13 seems to have the same increasing trend. However the man-
propeller. ufacturer's data suggests a lower available thrust compared to

Please cite this article in press as: Gadalla M, Zafar S, Analysis of a hydrogen fuel cell-PV power system for small UAV, International
Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.02.129
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 6 ) 1 e1 1 7

24 210

22 190

Electrical Power (W)

20 170

18 150
Manufactuurer's
Thrust (N)

16 Data 130

14 110
Conductedd test 90
12
70
10
50
8 8 13 18 23
200
22 23
300 24000 2500 26000 2700 2800 Thrust (N)
RPM
M

Fig. 8 e Figure shows thrust against electrical power

Fig. 6 e Produced thrust versus propeller RPM for
required.
manufacturer's provided data and the tested data.

instruments. Standard deviation is also analyzed for the

what the conducted tests have suggested. Sensors could have
charging time to show how the recorded times varied.
contributed towards this discrepancy in the compared results.
Fig. 9 shows the standard deviation associated with the
The optical sensor does not precisely give out the RPM reading
bench test conducted on motorepropeller current, RPM and
as it relies on reflection of light. The other factor could be the
electric power. In Fig. 9, RPM must me multiplied by 100 and
test bench vibration. The test bench vibrated when the bench
electric power by 10 to get the actual corresponding value.
tests are conducted hence altering the load cell values.
These values are scaled down so that they can fit appro-
Fig. 7 shows the trend of thrust against required current
priately in the graph. For current, averaged variation is 18%,
for motorepropeller system, at around 24 V. In spite having a
for RPM it is 6% and for electric power, the variation is 17%.
range of values for the thrust at 18 N, the cluster of data
Table 6 shows error associated with the various measured
agrees that the current does not exceed 5 Amps. The graph
and calculated properties used in this paper. The used in-
also shows a relatively linear trend for thrust requirement
struments, their parameters and the respective accuracy, as
between 16 N and 21 N. Fig. 8 shows the trend of thrust
supplied by the manufacturer are also listed. Since direct
against electrical power required to propel the aircraft. The
readings are taken, the accuracy is then simply subtracted
plot in Fig. 8 is essential since the voltage of the battery de-
and added to find the maximum and minimum possible
creases with time. This decrease in voltage increases the
values.
current required to continue running the motor. The data for
thrust against electrical power confirms that the required
current at 18 N is less than 5 N when voltage is 24 V. Once Model study
again, the trend for thrust against electrical power appears to
be linearly increasing for thrust values between 16 N and A model study is conducted to find out the feasibility of using a
21 N. hybrid, fuel cell-PV panels, power system for a small UAV. A
microcontroller is used in the UAV to alternate the motor
Uncertainty analysis results input between PV panels charged battery and fuel cell. It is
assumed that the initial battery charge - charged on the
Uncertainty analyses are conducted on the measured and ground - is completely consumed during take-off.
calculated values. The uncertainly analyses include the error The modeled power system uses AEROPAK fuel cell that
analysis resulting from the measured values from the has the capacity of 900 Ah. A hybrid, fuel cell-PV panel, power

2.5
9

8
2
Current
7
Current (A)

1.5
6
RPM * 100

5
1
Electric Power
4 * 10
0.5
3
9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25

Thrust (N) 0

Fig. 7 e Figure shows the data collected for current against Fig. 9 e Standard deviation of recorded current, RPM and
thrust generated. electric power during bench tests.

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8 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 6 ) 1 e1 1
Table 6 e Provided accuracy of the used instruments.
Instruments Parameter
Load cell Thrust
Ammeter Current
Voltmeter Voltage
system is modeled to enhance the endurance of a 10 kg UAV,
at its cruising speed of 17 m/s. It assumes that the UAV would
takeoff using the initial battery power and there is no
maneuvering involved. For the cruise condition, the estimated
required thrust equals the drag of the aircraft. The drag for the
designed UAV is estimated to be 14 N. The results suggested
that 5 Amps current and 24 V of voltage is required from the
battery or from the fuel cell. Hence, to yield 14 N of thrust,
motor draws 115 W of power.
In a fuel cell-PV panel hybrid system, electric power comes
through the fuel cell until the solar panels have charged the
battery. Once the battery is charged, battery takes over, to
supply electric power to the motor. When the battery drains
out, fuel cell takes over and the cycle repeats until the fuel cell
has drained out. The time at which UAV runs on battery is the
additional endurance achieved through this hybrid power
system. This hybrid system increases the endurance of the
UAV without the added cost and weight of additional power
systems. The endurance may vary depending on the available
solar flux and UAV's power requirement. Using the UAV's
current and voltage requirements, it is important to first
calculate the UAV's endurance with just the fuel cell power.
Since the UAV motor requires 115 W of power, it would take
28,173 s to drain hence becomes the endurance upper limit of
the UAV. Any increase in the endurance of the UAV would be
associated to the hybrid power system.
Working with the cruise phase assumption, the motor
draws power from the fuel cell until PV panels have charged
the battery. The wing and tail PV panels, combined, generate
the total current output of 6.82 Amps at a voltage of 17 V. A
5 Ah battery, rated for 26 V, takes 4021 s to fully charge under
1 kW/m2 solar flux. This means that the motor is powered by
fuel cell for 4021 s. Once the battery is charged, it takes 3600 s
for the battery to be drained out by the motor running at 26 V
and 5 Amps. To have a conservative estimate, 26 V is used for
the battery drainage calculations even though the motore-
propeller system requires 5 Amps at 24 V for the cruise con-
ditions. The cycle repeats until the fuel cell has run out of
hydrogen and battery is fully drained out.
Fig. 10 shows the run time of the individual power systems
with their sequence. Each sequence comprises of fuel cell
followed by battery powered flight. In case of cloudy condi-
tions, representing low solar flux, the UAV would have lower
added endurance. This means that it would partially run on
the fuel cell plus whatever power PV panels can produce.
Under no solar flux, it would only run on the fuel cell. The total
battery time is the improvement in the UAV's endurance
because of hybrid power system. The hybrid power system
increases 25,223 s in UAV's endurance. This increase makes
the total UAV endurance to be 53,396 s.
In Fig. 11, FC indicates the UAV motor run time on fuel
cell while Battery indicates the run time on the PV-charged
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Accuracy Remarks
0.5% Depended on the load cell fitting
0.02 Amps Provided by the manufacturer
0.02 V Provided by the manufacturer
battery. The modeled UAV has 28,173 s of endurance with
AEROPAK fuel cell. When a PV-fuel cell hybrid power system is
used, the UAV's total endurance increases to 53,396 s. This
shows that the hybrid power system improves 25,223 s of
endurance.
The endurance comparison, between fuel cell only and PV-
fuel cell hybrid power system, is graphically depicted in
Fig. 12. The modeled UAV has a payload capability of 2 kg. The
UAV's hybrid power system gives the overall endurance of
940 min compared to 470 min with fuel cell only power sys-
tem. This in turn means that it gives the hybrid UAV an
endurance increment of 470 min. By using the hybrid,
hydrogen fuel cell-PV power system, the UAV endurance
doubles. The total endurance can be further increased by
increasing the fuel cell hydrogen storage capacity.
Parametric study
For the desired cruise under ideal conditions, the thrust may
not vary but the flight envelope and other atmospheric con-
ditions may alter the assumed operating conditions. A para-
metric study is conducted to simulate the expected changes in
assumed conditions.
Fig. 13 shows the change in UAV endurance as the
motorepropeller current requirement changes. The current
requirement can change due to increase in UAV's structural
drag, maneuvering or due to subsystem requirements. When
the aircraft drag changes, the required power, to maintain the
cruising speed, changes as well. With the change in power, the
thrust required from the propeller also has to change. In a
propeller driven aircraft, at constant pitch angle, thrust can
only change with the increase in rotational speed of the pro-
peller. At a constant free-stream velocity, the rotational speed
changes with the change in electric current, under constant
4500
4000
3500
Fuel cell
3000
powered
Endurance (s)
2500 flight
2000
1500
Battery
1000 powered
flight
500
0
Fig. 10 e Run time of fuel cell and battery during flight.
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 6 ) 1 e1 1 9

Battery - 8 50000

50000 FC - 8
45000

Endurance (s)
Total Endurance -
Battery - 7
Sec
40000
FC - 7

40000 35000
Battery - 6
FC only endurance

FC - 6 30000

Battery - 5
25000
Endurance (s)

4 5 6 7 8 9
30000
FC - 5 Required current (Amps)

Battery - 4 Fig. 13 e Figure showing the relationship between required

current and UAV's total endurance.
FC - 4
20000
Battery - 3
increases linearly. The PV electrical power output can change,
FC - 3 primarily, either due to change in solar flux, by using PV
panels with different efficiencies or by changing the PV area.
Battery - 2
The other reasons could include damaged cells, faulty con-
10000
FC - 2 nections or dust accumulation.
In order to improve the performance further, better PV
Battery - 1 panels can be used. PV panels with higher efficiency and low
FC - 1
weight can result in greater power output and lower weight.
0 Higher power output would result in greater endurance or
allow bigger motor to be operated. Lower PV panel weight
Fig. 11 e UAV's total endurance division with the
would allow greater payload to be carried by the UAV. On the
corresponding power sources.
other hand, a more precise power output reading can be
attained by testing the solar panels under the real solar flux.
1,000 The assumed 1 kW/m2 solar flux is a relatively high value which
900 is not the usual solar flux in most places, most of the time.
The simulation in this paper assumes no gust, maneu-
800
vering or power consumption by any other subsystem on
700
board during cruise phase. Subsystems like data logger,
Endurance (min)

600 Fuel cell and PV

panels controller or control surface actuation takes power from the
500 mainstream power source. This subtraction of power would
400 result in lower power availability to the motor hence the
Fuel cell actual endurance will be lower. Similarly, the act of maneu-
300
vering not only takes power from the main power source; it
200
also increases the overall drag. Finally, the increase in overall
100 drag results in greater required power to maintain the level
0 flight.

Fig. 12 e Endurances time comparison between fuel cell 50000

powered UAV endurance and hybrid system powered UAV
endurance. 45000

voltage. Maneuvering or other sub-systems take electrical

Endurance (s)

40000 Total
Endurance -
power directly from the battery so the available electrical is of sec
reduced magnitude.
35000
As the current requirement increases, the UAV endurance FC only
decreases exponentially. This decrease is mainly due to the endurance
30000
high motorepropeller power requirement. Since greater
amount of electrical power is being consumed, the stored
25000
energy gets drained out faster hence reducing the UAV 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
endurance. The horizontal line in Figs. 12 and 13 shows the
PV electrical power output (W)
UAV endurance without using the on board PV panel.
Fig. 14 shows the change in UAV endurance with the Fig. 14 e Trend showing the increase in UAV's total
change in PV electrical power output. The trend shows that endurance with the increase in electrical power output of
as the PV electrical output increases, the UAV endurance PV panels.

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Acronyms
Conclusions AR aspect ratio
BLDC brushless direct current
This paper presented the modeling conducted on a hybrid, FC fuel cell
hydrogen fuel cell-PV, power system as a small UAV propul- MTOW maximum takeoff weight, N
sion system. A hybrid power system serves as an alternative RPM revolutions per minute
to bigger and costly fuel cell power systems that would be UAV unmanned ariel vehicle
required to achieve the same flight performance. The current
simulation models and bench test results of the proposed Greek letters
hybrid small UAV confirm the following conclusions: h efficiency
r air density, kg/m3
 The endurance of the small UAV increased with the use of u rotational speed, rads/s
hydrogen fuel cell-PV hybrid power system.
 The endurance of modeled UAV increases 100% with the
use hybrid hydrogen fuel cell-PV power system. The UAV references
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