Title :
Very high efficiency drives for solar powered unmanned aircraft
Author :
Mecrow, Barrie ; Bennett, John ; Jack, Alan ; Atkinson, David ; Freeman, Alan
Author_Institution :
Sch. of Electr., Electron. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Newcastle
Abstract :
Solar powered aircraft require electric drives for the main propulsion system. It is critical that these drives provide both very high efficiency and low mass. This paper describes a permanent magnet machine drive, developed specifically for this application. The machine uses 6% silicon steel laminations to achieve very low iron loss, combined with a high pole number to minimize mass. The system has been developed to maximize efficiency, taking into account both power electronic and motor losses.
Keywords :
aircraft; motor drives; permanent magnet motors; propulsion; remotely operated vehicles; solar powered vehicles; high efficiency drive; motor loss; permanent magnet machine drive; power electronic; solar powered unmanned aircraft; Air gaps; Aircraft propulsion; Batteries; Inverters; Iron; Lamination; Sheet materials; Silicon; Steel; Unmanned aerial vehicles;
Conference_Titel :
Electrical Machines, 2008. ICEM 2008. 18th International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Vilamoura
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-1735-3
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-1736-0
DOI :
10.1109/ICELMACH.2008.4800095
