What is it about?
This paper highlights the impact of gusts (sudden changes in wind) on long-endurance solar vehicles, focusing on their structural loads and controllability. It explains how gust sensing technology can help improve control systems, reduce stress on the vehicle, and improve handling during extreme events like gusts. Skydweller has integrated a gust sensing system inside its wings to measure changes in the angle of attack caused by gusts.
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Why is it important?
Designing solar-powered flying vehicles involves creating lightweight, large-winged aircraft to improve efficiency and maximize the area for solar panels. However, these designs often result in low wing loading, making the vehicles more affected by atmospheric disturbances like gusts. Balancing the need for strong, controllable materials while keeping the weight low is challenging. This paper discusses how Skydweller aims to solve this issue by introducing a system called Gust Load Alleviation (GLA), which helps reduce the forces on the vehicle during gusts and assists in recovering from them during flight.
Perspectives
The data presented highlights the importance of gusts in solar-powered flying vehicles. The data collected with this device will help in defining more relevant airworthiness requirements from a gust encounter point of view. The final implementation will allow for a lighter weight, more efficient, and more stable design.
Rubén Moreno
Skydweller Aero
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Gust Load Alleviation in Solar Powered UAS, January 2025, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA),
DOI: 10.2514/6.2025-0903.
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