Crafting a solar-powered unmanned aircraft
It's not just our alums that have their eyes on the skies. Missouri S&T students too are curious. Here's a post from a group of OURE students who are working with Dr. KM Isaac on a proposed new aircraft.
With a flight profile similar to that of an eagle, the proposed solid-state aircraft could soar for long periods, flapping its wings to regain altitude.
Using thin-film solar arrays and an ionic polymer-metal composite material that can deform in an electric field like an artificial muscle and return to its original shape when the field is removed, the vehicle would be able to flap its wings without using conventional mechanical parts. Designed to complement other types of exploration vehicles, the solid-state aircraft could provide high-resolution data on a larger scale than the Mars rovers.
By using a renewable power source, the vehicle would be capable of long-duration flights on Earth, Mars or Venus. Missouri S&T graduate student, Taylor Swanson, and undergraduate students Bryan Ralston and Ben McCouch are members of a team from universities and NASA helping develop the aircraft. Instead of storing the energy in a battery like in the Missouri S&T Solar Car, the vehicle is designed to store it as potential energy. When the solar array collects a lot of energy, the wings will flap and the aircraft will gain altitude. Then at night, when sunlight is not available, the vehicle will start gliding just like a bird until the sun comes up again.Because the vehicle would fly at altitudes of 30,000 to 40,000 feet, cloudy skies wouldn't be a problem, but stormy weather could spell trouble. Wind shear is something to watch out for at those altitudes. The research has been originally supported by a grant from the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts.
Micro air vehicles are becoming a new tool for civilian and military applications. With a small aircraft less than six inches long, and equipped with a camera and other sensors onboard, these vehicles can support the operations of agencies such as FEMA, law enforcement, and the military.
Ben McCouch and Bryan Ralston, the undergraduate students, are conducting computer simulations to understand the novel aerodynamics of flapping wings. They will compare conventional wing shapes to those designed for micro air vehicles. They hope to finish their research in Spring 2008 and report their results to the Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experiences (OURE) program.
Taylor Swanson, the grad student, is using both computer simulations and laboratory experiments to help develop design guidelines for micro air vehicles. He presented his work in January 2008 at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Aerospace Sciences meeting in Reno, NV.