Investigation of Energy Generation on Large Rotary Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle’s Propeller Using Coupled Engineering Approaches

Abstract

Low endurance is the predominant issue in the multi-rotor UAVs, which has been solved through various inventions such as advanced cum integrated propulsive systems and implementation of aerodynamic efficient designs. Similarly, this work deals with the extraction of energy through the components of UAV and its working principle to tackle energy insufficient issue, in which the methodologies are used for this extraction, is coupled engineering approaches. The fundamental platform of this work is a 20-inch two-bladed propeller, which can be suitable for both Rotary wing UAVs and Multi-rotor UAVs. Two primary material families are used in this comprehensive investigation, which is Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP). The subordinate material types used in this simulation are prepreg, wet, woven, and uni-directional for both the classifications. Because of the work nature of UAV’s propeller, the probability of non-linear in vibrations may happen in numerous manners. Therefore the study about vibration relayed energy harvesting is imposed on the short-listed propeller and thereby energy obtained through Piezoelectric layers. In this regard, the natural frequencies, aerodynamic pressure estimations on composite UAV’s propeller are estimated through advanced computational tools and thus the outcomes are coupled with an analytical energy estimator. At last, the energy extracted by the piezoelectric layer for different composite materials are determined, which guided the material optimization.