Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 44 (2015) 96–108

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Reviews of methods to extract and store energy

for solar-powered aircraft
Xian-Zhong Gao, Zhong-Xi Hou n,1, Zheng Guo, Xiao-Qian Chen
College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, Hunan, PR China

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Solar energy is considered to be the most reliable source in the future, and applying solar energy for
Received 15 June 2013 flight is one of the most promising utilizations of renewables. Since the invention of solar-powered
Received in revised form aircraft in 1974, the methods to extract and store energy for it have become the important research
14 April 2014
points all around the world. Currently, the main methods to do so are photovoltaic cell, rechargeable
Accepted 2 November 2014
Available online 2 January 2015
battery, and component of maximum power point tracking (MPPT). These years, many institutions and
scholars have dedicated great efforts to the relative research. Besides, there are also several other
Keywords: methods in consideration, such as to extract energy from wind shear and store energy by gravitational
Photovoltaic cell potential. However, it is still not a simple task for the designers of solar-powered aircraft to select a
Rechargeable battery
particular technique from a number of existing techniques, since each technique has certain advantages
Maximum power point tracking
and disadvantages with respect to different performance indices to fulfill the special requirements.
Solar-powered aircraft
Thus, the aim of this paper is to review in detail the working principle of different methods to extract
and store energy, and to compare their performances on the basis of desirable features applied on solar-
powered aircraft, and to provide some guidance principles for designers to select proper methods.
& 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
2. The power components and energy management system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
3. Photovoltaic cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
3.1. The energy conversion efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
3.2. Classification and application of photovoltaic cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
3.2.1. Silicon photovoltaic cell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
3.2.2. Thin-film photovoltaic cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
3.3. The trends of photovoltaic cell applied on solar-powered aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4. Rechargeable batteries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.1. The energy density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.2. Classification and application of rechargeable battery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.2.1. Li-ion and Li-ion polymer batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.2.2. Lithium–sulfur batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4.2.3. Regenerative fuel cell energy storage system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4.3. The trends of rechargeable battery applied on solar-powered aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
5. Maximum power point tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6. The other methods to extract and store energy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
6.1. Energy extraction from wind shear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
6.2. Energy storage by gravitational potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

n
Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ 86 731 84573189.
E-mail address: hzx@nudt.edu.cn (Z.-X. Hou).
1
Permanent address: No. 109, Deya Street, Kaifu District, Changsha 410073,
Hunan, PR China.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.11.025
1364-0321/& 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
 X.-Z. Gao et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 44 (2015) 96–108 97

7. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

1. Introduction cells and rechargeable batteries, as shown in Fig. 1. The former is

covered on the wing and used to extract energy from the sun to
Today, the world is facing many tough challenges, among them supply power to the propulsion system and the control electro-
energy crisis and environmental pollution are at top of the list [1]. nics; the latter is installed on the fuselage or other place of aircraft,
Keeping in view of this scenario, great efforts have been made by it is charged in daytime when the energy is surplus and discharged
many countries towards renewable and sustainable energy sources. to supply the power required in nighttime.
Solar energy is considered to be the most reliable source for the future, Due to unpredictable nature of solar energy and the operational
and applying solar energy for flight is one of the most promising condition of solar-powered aircraft, it is necessary to design a
utilizations of renewables [2]. Since the solar power can be considered sophisticated energy and mission management to achieve a
inexhaustible, it has the potential to redefine the endurance capabil- continuous flight during more than one day [68]. The key
ities of aircraft [3]. Additionally, by using an autopilot system to the component to do so in solar-powered aircraft is named as Energy
aircraft, it is possible to work anywhere in the world [4]. Thus, the Management System (EMS) [69]. In order to get the highest
solar-powered aircrafts can be employed as an ideal communication amount of energy from the photovoltaic cell, a component named
platform and are especially suitable for the high-altitude, long- MPPT is required. The MPPT is basically a DC/DC converter with
endurance (HALE) missions, such as border surveillance [5], forest fire variable and adjustable gain. It contains electronics that will
fighting, ground tracking [6], precision agriculture [7] and even the monitor the current and the voltage of the photovoltaic cells and
future exploration of Venus [8,9] and Mars [10,11]. rechargeable batteries [70]. By changing the gain, it enables the
From the first solar-powered aircraft Sunrise-I took off at Camp available energy extracted from the photovoltaic cells to be
Irwin, California on the 4th of Nov. 1974 [12] to now, the solar- maximum [71]. For the most of solar-powered aircraft, the MPPT
powered aircrafts have been quite well developed and widely is integrated in the EMS, as shown in Fig. 2.
applied in practice. However, there are still some techniques need
further refinement and advanced research are required to achieve
reliable, safe and low cost flights, such as structural material, 3. Photovoltaic cells
aerodynamic efficiency, control system, and power supply system
[13]. Among all of them, power supply system is especially 3.1. The energy conversion efficiency
important and crucial, because it does affect solar-powered air-
crafts’ working duration and mission completion [14]. The main The energy conversion efficiency ηPC of a photovoltaic cell is the
methods for power supply system to extract and store energy are percentage of the solar energy to which the cell is exposed that is
to employ the photovoltaic cells and rechargeable batteries. For converted into electrical energy. This is one of the most important
the reason that the photovoltaic cells have non-linear I–V char- parameters to evaluate the performance of photovoltaic cells. ηPC
acteristics and output power depends on power load severely, the can be calculated by Eq. (1) on the standard test conditions (STC),
maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique is crucial for where Pm is the photovoltaic cell’s power output at its maximum
photovoltaic cells to enhance overall energy conversion efficiency.
These years, many institutions and scholars have dedicated great
efforts to research the technologies about solar cells [15–31], recharge-
able batteries [32–42] and MPPT techniques [2,43–58]. Besides, there
are also several other methods in consideration, such as to extract
energy from wind shear [59–63] and store energy by gravitational
potential [64–67] for solar-powered aircrafts. Although lots of works
have been done, it is still not a simple task for the designers of solar-
powered aircraft to select a particular technique from a number of
existing techniques, since each technique has certain advantages and
disadvantages with respect to different performance indices to fulfill
the special requirements.
Thus, the main purpose of this paper is to make an attempt to
review the working principle of different methods to extract and store
energy, and to compare their performances on the basis of desirable
features applied on solar-powered aircrafts. The paper is organized as Fig. 1. The power components of solar-powered aircraft.
follows: The power components and energy management system
(EMS) in solar-powered aircrafts are introduced in Section 2.
The photovoltaic cells, rechargeable batteries, and MPPT in solar-
powered aircrafts are discussed in Sections 3–5, respectively. The
methods to extract energy from wind shear and to store energy by
gravitational potential for solar-powered aircrafts are presented in
Section 6. Finally, the conclusions are given in Section 7.

2. The power components and energy management system

The concept of solar-powered aircraft is quite simple: An

aircraft equips with power components which are photovoltaic Fig. 2. The structure of energy management system [67].
98 X.-Z. Gao et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 44 (2015) 96–108

Nomenclature mb the energy density of rechargeable battery

MCFC molten carbonate fuel cell
ηPC efficiency of power conversion MPP maximum power point
CdTe cadmium telluride MPPT maximum power point tracking
CuInSe2 copper indium diselenide Ni–Cd nickel cadmium
E the stored energy in rechargeable battery Ni–MH nickel metal hydride
EMS energy management strategy PAFC phosphoric acid fuel cell
EVA ethylene-vinyl acetate PET polyethylene terephthalate
G the input solar irradiation Pm the output power of photovoltaic cell at maximum
GaAs gallium arsenide power point
HALE high-altitude long-endurance P–V power–voltage
I–V ampere-voltage SC the surface area of photovoltaic cell
Li-ion lithium-ion SOFC solid oxide fuel cell
Li–S lithium sulfur TiO2 titanium dioxide
mb the mass of the rechargeable battery

power point, G is the input solar irradiation, and SC is the surface
area of photovoltaic cell.
PM
ηpc ¼
G  Sc
The energy conversion efficiencies vary from 6% for amorphous
silicon-based photovoltaic cells to 40.7% with multiple-junction
research lab cell and 42.8% with multiple dyes assembled into a
hybrid package. The efficiency of the 3rd generation photovoltaic
technologies have achieved 44% [29]. Fig. 3 shows the evolution of
the best research-cell efficiencies since the middle of the 1970s.
3.2. Classification and application of photovoltaic cells
Nowadays, the industry’s productions of photovoltaic cells can
be mainly cataloged into five classifications: silicon (consists of
crystalline silicon and amorphous silicon), organic and polymer
cell, thin-film solar cell such as cadmium telluride (CdTe), gallium
arsenide (GaAs), titanium dioxide (TiO2), and hybrid photovoltaic
cell [73]. However, there are only few of them can be applied on
solar-powered aircraft due to the consideration of energy conver-
sion efficiency, weight of substrate, cost-effectiveness, environ-
mental adaptability and reliability [2]. The silicon is the most
ð1Þ widely type of photovoltaic cell used in solar-powered aircraft; the
type of thin-film solar cell has been proposed to applied on the
aircraft by some scholars, but has not been demonstrated in flight
test yet.
3.2.1. Silicon photovoltaic cell
The silicon photovoltaic cell consists of mono-crystalline sili-
con, multi-crystalline silicon and amorphous silicon. As indicated
in the blue line of Fig. 1, the improvements of silicon photovoltaic
cell in efficiency have come in ‘steps’, and each of these steps
corresponds to a new design feature. Since the early 1980s, there
have been two major surges that have taken silicon cell efficiency
close to 25% [16]. However, the efficiencies for commercially
available silicon photovoltaic cell are around 16–22%. Table 1 gives
the typical solar-powered aircrafts powered by silicon photovoltaic
cell and their performances.

Fig. 3. The best-research cell efficiencies chart (Reprinted with permision from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory) [72].
 X.-Z. Gao et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 44 (2015) 96–108 99

Table 1
The aircrafts powered by silicon photovoltaic and performances.

Name Year Type and size Energy conversion efficiency Output power
(%) (W)

Solar Impulse HB-SIA 2009 Mono crystal silicon 10,748 on the wing, 880 on the horizontal stabilizer  18 6000
[74]
Sunrise I [75] 1980 Mono crystal silicon – 400
Sunrise II [75] 1985 Mono crystal silicon 1120 (2  4 cm) 16.1 580
Gossamer Penguin [76] 1981 Mono crystal silicon 3920 (2240 (2  4 cm), 700 (2  6 cm), 980 13.2 540
(2.4  6.2 cm))
Xihe [77] 2009 – 16 –
Pathfinder [78] 1997 – 14.5 8000
So long [79] 2005 Mono crystal silicon 76 – 225
Skysailor [70] 2004 Mono crystal silicon REW32 216 16–18 84
Sunriser [80] 2000 Mono crystal silicon 256 – 30
Helios [81,82] 2001 SunPower Mono crystal silicon 62,000 16 –
Zephyr7[83] 2010 Amorphous silicon 19 –
Heliplat [13,84] Start from Mono crystal silicon 22 1500
2004

Fig. 5. Install photovoltaic cells on the Helios prototype [86].

Fig. 4. The method to install photovoltaic cells on the exact airfoil shape.

It can be seen from Table 1 that most of the solar-powered

aircraft choose the mono crystal silicon to be the component for Fig. 6. The flat-paneled airfoil special designed for solar-powered aircraft [87].

energy extraction, and its energy conversion efficiency is about

13–20%. Table 2
The problem for the application of silicon photovoltaic cell on The aircraft proposed to be powered by thin film.
solar-powered aircraft is how to encapsulate solar-cell to be bent
Name Year Type of thin-film Energy conversion
along the contour of airfoil, for the reason that the crystalline
efficiency (%)
materials are very brittle and cannot be easily shaped into a
smooth aerodynamic contour which is crucial for solar-powered Proposed in Skysailor 2004 GaAs triple Junction 27–28
aircraft to retain high aerodynamic efficiency. [70] cell
There are two methods to solve this problem. The first method Proposed in Mars 1990 Gallium arsenide 25
aircraft [90] solar cells
is to bend the solar array to fit the airfoil shape. Because the fragile
silicon photovoltaic cell can be bent in a small range, the cell can
fit the airfoil very well by the adhesiveness of EVA (Ethylene-vinyl 3.2.2. Thin-film photovoltaic cell
acetate) substratum and the stress of PET (Polyethylene terephtha- Thin-film photovoltaic cells are basically thin layers of semi-
late) skin [85], as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. But, by this method, the conductor materials applied to a solid backing material. Gallium
exact airfoil shape must be compromised due to limitations on the arsenide (GaAs) [88], cadmium telluride (CdTe) [19], copper
flexibility of the crystalline solar cells and manufacturing techni- indium diselenide (CuInSe2) [89] and titanium dioxide (TiO2)
que, which leading to a loss in aerodynamic efficiency. [20] are materials that have been mostly used for thin film
The other method is to use a flat-paneled airfoil, and the photovoltaic cells. Among all of thin-film solar cell, the attention
photovoltaic cells can be installed on the wing without bending, of the solar-powered aircraft’s designers is mainly concentrated on
as shown in Fig. 6. By this method, the loss of efficiency attributed the GaAs, because of its constantly increasing energy conversion
to bending during encapsulation can be avoid, and the loss of efficiency. As indicated in the purple line of Fig. 1, for the single-
efficiency due to irradiance differences over a curved solar array junction GaAs device, the best result to date is 29.1%, and for the
can be also reduced [87]. Furthermore, if the bottom of airfoils multi-junction tandem GaAs-based photovoltaic cell, the best
is flat, then this place can be used to mount additional solar result is up to 44%.
cells to collect earth albedo radiation for additional solar-energy The typical solar-powered aircrafts have been proposed to be
harvesting. powered by GaAs-based photovoltaic cell are listed in Table 2.
100 X.-Z. Gao et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 44 (2015) 96–108

3.3. The trends of photovoltaic cell applied on solar-powered aircraft
Generally speaking, as demonstrated in Figs. 4–6, it can be seen
that selecting a kind of proper photovoltaic cell and covering it
firmly on the wings are significantly important for the designing of
the solar-powered aircraft. They would also influence the total
weight, price and the flight duration. Arraying the photovoltaic cell
following the optimum tilt angle is crucial for solar-powered
aircraft to retain high aerodynamic efficiency. While, if a flat-
paneled airfoil was used in solar-powered aircraft, the loss of
efficiency attributed to bending during encapsulation can be avoid,
and the loss of efficiency due to irradiance differences over a
curved solar array can be also reduced.
Comparing to Tables 1 and 2, it also can be found that: although
the energy conversion efficiency of GaAs photovoltaic cell is greater
than that of silicon photovoltaic cell, most of designers choose the
latter one rather than the former one to power the aircrafts.
The reason is rooted on two problems: the first one is the weight
of substrate; the second one is the cost-effectiveness. The substrate of
thin-film solar cell is three times heavier than that of crystalline
silicon [70], which is very disadvantageous for its application on
solar-powered aircraft, especially for HALE aircraft. Because the more
mass of HALE aircraft, the more power is required for them to keep
cruise speed [14]. While the price of thin-film solar cell is about
several times of crystalline silicon, so the thin-film solar cells are
mostly used in satellites [91] rather than solar-powered aircraft.
4. Rechargeable batteries
4.1. The energy density
Due to the solar power is not an idea energy source and the
photovoltaic cell can only generate power at certain times of the
day, it is necessary for many types of stand-alone photovoltaic
systems to even out irregularities in the solar irradiation and
concentrate the solar energy to higher power in certain circum-
stance by rechargeable battery [92]. Do as one typical stand-alone
photovoltaic system, undoubtedly, solar-powered aircraft also
needs the rechargeable battery to store the surplus power in
daytime and supply the power in nighttime.
For the rechargeable battery, the energy density is the key
figure to evaluate its performance. The energy density is defined as
the amount of energy stored in a given system per unit mass, or
region of space per unit volume. Generally, the energy density of a
rechargeable battery can be calculated by Eq. (2), where E is the
stored energy and mb is the mass of the rechargeable battery.
E
mb ¼ ð2Þ
mb
Because the energy density is so critical for most applications,
especially for solar-powered aircraft, considerable efforts world-
wide have been made to improve the energy density of recharge-
able battery [93]. Fig. 7 compares the energy densities and power
density of some common energy storage technologies.
4.2. Classification and application of rechargeable battery
Rechargeable batteries come in many different shapes and
sizes, ranging from button cells to megawatt systems. The current
energy storage technologies including: alkaline, lead-acid, nickel
cadmium (Ni–Cd), nickel metal hydride (Ni–MH), lithium-ion
(Li-ion), Lithium-ion polymer (Li-ion polymer), lithium sulfur
(Li–S) and fuel cell [94]. For the solar-powered aircraft, the
selection of rechargeable battery is the most critical issue because
it represents the most important part of the total weight [11].
Thus, the relatively low energy density technologies such as
alkaline, lead-acid, NiCd, Ni–MH are always out of consideration.
The Li-ion, Li-ion polymer, Li–S and fuel cell are the candidates of
energy sources in a wide variety of solar-powered aircraft for their
relatively high energy density, as shown in Fig. 7.

4.2.1. Li-ion and Li-ion polymer batteries

Li-ion batteries are the members of a family of rechargeable
battery types, in which lithium ions move from the negative
electrode to the positive electrode during discharges, and back

Fig. 7. The practical energy and power density of current energy storage technol-
ogies. The plot is based on data from Refs. [39,93,94]. Fig. 8. The configuration of solar impulse.

Table 3
The aircrafts equipped with Li-ion or Li-ion polymer batteries.

Name Year Type of BATTERY Specific energy

(W h/kg)

Solar Impulse HB-SIA [74] 2009 Lithium-ion polymer battery, weigh 400 kg, or more than 1/4 of the total mass of the plane 240
Sunrise II [75] 1985 Lithium-ion polymer battery 145
Xihe [77] 2009 Lithium-ion polymer battery 196
Green flight challenge: 2011 High energy density lithium-polymer cells, which consists of three groups of 88 series-connected cells. In practice, 180
Taurus G4 [102] total capacity exceeds 90 kW h. Total mass of battery is about 500 kg
So long [79] 2005 120 Sanyo 18,650 lithium-ion polymer battery 5.6 kg, 1200 W h 214
Skysailor [70] 2004 Including a margin of 20%, the battery of aircraft composed of eight E-tec1200 cells in series, six in parallel, 172
which lead to a capacity of 207.36 W h with 7200 mA h at 28.8 V and a total weight of 1.2 kg
 X.-Z. Gao et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 44 (2015) 96–108 101

when charging [95]. Lithium-ion polymer battery has the same
property of Li-ion battery but is lighter in weight and can be made
in any shape desired. This kind of batteries, in particular, have a
wide range of applications [96].
Although the technology behind the Li-ion and Li-ion polymer
battery has not yet fully reached maturity [97–99], comparing to
other energy storage technologies available today, Li-ion and
Li-ion polymer batteries have been always selected as the
rechargeable battery for solar-powered aircraft, as listed in Table 3.
Table 3 shows the energy density of Li-ion and Li-ion polymer
battery applied in solar-powered aircraft is about 140–240 W h/kg.
Although the Li-ion and Li-ion polymer battery are two of the
best rechargeable batteries to have a higher energy density and a
very slow loss of charge when not in use, their energy density is
still not high enough. This has become the crucial constraint for
the solar-powered aircraft to support a HALE flight. The designers
of Sky-sailor, Noth et al. [100,101] have concluded that the design
of solar-powered aircrafts as a ‘hen and egg problem’ caused by
the weight of rechargeable battery: The required power during
night needs more battery, but at the same time, the additional
weight of battery will consume more energy.
Thus, for the solar-powered aircraft equipped with Li-ion and
Li-ion polymer battery, it requires a drastic reduction of the rest
part of plane, and to optimize the energy efficiency of whole
system. The high aspect ratio wing with a low-speed profile is
also necessary to maximize the aerodynamic performance, as
shown in Fig. 8.
permit it could recharge at temperatures as low as  60 1C.
In order to do so, an advanced electronic control system is used
to maintain battery temperature and condition during flight.
4.2.3. Regenerative fuel cell energy storage system
Fuel cell is an important enabling technology to provide a
quite high electrical energy by reaction of fuel and oxygen without
combustion. The fuel cell has many advantages over other
rechargeable batteries, such as higher efficiency, less pollution
and so on. Depending on type of the electrolytes, there are several
fuel cells, for example, phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC), molten
carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) [110].
The use of hydrogen and oxygen gases is necessary to achieve a
reasonable power density in fuel-cell system [111].
Fuel cell technology also has the potential to achieve a real
technological breakthrough in the aircraft field [112]. Many
designers have proposed or have equipped the fuel cell on solar-
powered aircraft, as shown in Table 5. After the evaluation of
current state-of-art rechargeable battery systems, and their poten-
tial in achieving high specific energy density using advanced
material in the near future, it can be concluded that the regen-
erative fuel cell based energy storage system holds the promise
of achieving the energy density in the order of 400 W h/kg
and above.

4.2.2. Lithium–sulfur batteries

Just because the relative low energy density of rechargeable
battery puts great constraint to the design of solar-powered
aircraft, the demand for advanced rechargeable batteries with
high energy density increase drastically. Under this circumstance,
Li–S battery has been developed by the company of Sion Power
since 1994 [103,104]. Based on the lithium/elemental sulfur redox
couple, Li–S battery has a theoretical specific capacity of
1600 mA h/g, and a theoretical specific energy of 2600 W h/kg
assuming the complete reaction of lithium with sulfur to Li2S Fig. 9. The lithium–sulfur battery used on Zephyr [103].
[105]. This is the highest theoretical energy densities of any
rechargeable battery chemistry. After a great deal of research
[38,40–42,106,107], many scholars have pointed out that the Li–S
battery is a very promising technology for high energy applica-
tions and may succeed Li-ion cells because of its higher energy
density and reduced cost from the use of sulfur.
This technology is especially suitable for the application in solar-
powered aircraft where the weight is a critical factor. The Zephyr
7 which has flew over 336 h in Yuma, Arizona on July 2010, reaching
an altitude of 21.6 km, is the first and the solo one equipped with Li–S
battery in open literatures [108], as shown in Table 4.
As shown in Fig. 9, the Li–S batteries used on Zephyr 7 are
laminar. They are installed as a thin-film sandwich within the
wing, as shown in Fig. 10. Because the operational altitude of
Zephyr 7 is about 17–21 km, it is important to keep the Li–S
battery in the suitable temperature and condition that would Fig. 10. The place to install the lithium–sulfur batteries in Zephyr.

Table 4
The aircraft equipped with Li–S battery.

Name Year Type of battery Specific energy (W h/kg)

Zephyr7 solar powered high-altitude 2010 The lithium–sulfur battery pack was designed and assembled by SION Power and consisted of 500–600 Achievable
long endurance UAS [83,104] 576 cells built into a battery configuration of 12 cells in series and 48 in parallel. The battery pack [109] 350 demonstrated
was carefully engineered to minimize total pack weight. In addition to providing flight power,
the battery pack supplied power to a special internal pack heating system to maintain the
batteries at 0 1C throughout the cold night
102 X.-Z. Gao et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 44 (2015) 96–108

Table 5
The solar-powered aircraft equipped with rechargeable fuel cell.

Name Year Type of battery Specific energy

(W h/kg)

Proposed in Mars 1990 The regenerative fuel cell, used for energy storage, used gaseous hydrogen and oxygen as the reactants 440
aircraft [90]
Heliplat [13,84] 2004 The fuel cells act as energy storage. It consists of the fuel cell array, the hydrolyser as well as hydrogen, oxygen and water 550
tanks. The gases are stored at high pressure 120 bar and used during the night to feed the fuel cells which supply the
motor; the water feeds the electrolyser to finish the cycle
Helios [81,82] 2003 The energy storage system uses a PEM fuel cell and electrolyzer stacks, light weight gas and water storage tanks and a 500
specially designed autonomous monitoring and control system

Fig. 11. The schematic diagram of hydrogen–oxygen fuel cell [113].

The Helios is the first successful flight-test solar-powered

aircraft equipped with fuel cell. The tank of Helios carries pressur-
ized hydrogen and oxygen, which are combined to produce
electric power, heat, and water, as shown in Fig. 11. As long as
these gases are supplied, the unit continues to produce power. Not
only are these systems attractive from an environmental stand-
point, but since they have very few moving parts, these systems
have the potential of very high reliability [113]. For Helios, if the
required power were supplied by the ordinary rechargeable
batteries, such as Li-ion or Li-ion polymer, it would be too heavy
to meet either altitude or endurance goals. So the fuel cell is
crucial for flight-test of Helios.
However, not as the Li-ion battery or laminar Li–S battery, the
weight of fuel cell cannot be laterally distributed along the wing of
Fig. 12. The fuel cell tank of Helios [115].
aircraft. As shown in Fig. 12, the Helios requires the heavy fuel cell
pod located at the centerline of the aircraft and 2 high-pressure
hydrogen tanks located at the center of each wing tip panel. The 4.3. The trends of rechargeable battery applied on solar-powered
structural flexibility and the large masses associated with the fuel aircraft
cell system cause the 3-point mass effects and introduce sub-
stantial complexity into the aircraft’s flight dynamics, which By the discussion in Section 4.2, it can be concluded that:
contribute to causing the persistent high dihedral and resulting The most widely used rechargeable batteries in solar-powered
in the aircraft fell into the ocean at last [114]. aircraft are still the Li-ion and Li-ion polymer batteries, but their
 X.-Z. Gao et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 44 (2015) 96–108 103

Table 6 5. Maximum power point tracking

Comparison of different MPPT techniques [52]. The green are suitable for solar-
powered aircraft.
Conceptually, MPPT is a simple problem: There exists only one
MPPT Technique Complexity Tracking Energy Transient Efficient point, called maximum power point (MPP) on the P–V curve of
accuracy tracking tracking for partial photovoltaic cell. The function of MPPT is to match the power of
factor speed shading load to this point, and to lock the operating point at MPP to extract
maximum power from the solar-cell array. However, even in
VMPPT S Low Low Slow No
CMPPT S Low Low Slow No
normal condition, photovoltaic array has non-linear I–V character-
Look up table S Low Low Slow No istics and its output power varies with solar irradiance and
Curve fitting S Low Low Slow No ambient temperature. For aircraft, the operational condition of
P&O S Medium Good Medium No photovoltaic varies drastically with the changes of altitude and
Modified P&O C High Very Fast Yes
attitude, and the partial shading conditions also will be encoun-
good
INC M High Good Fast Yes tered, which make the I–V and P–V characteristic more complex.
Modified INC C Very Very Fast Yes Thus, tracking the correct maximum power point can sometimes
high good be a challenging task [55], especially for solar-powered aircraft.
INR C High Good Fast No Since the MPPT plays a significant role in enhancing overall
RCC C High Very Fast Yes
good
power conversion efficient, many algorithms for MPPT have been
Power feedback S High Good Medium No reported and each with its own features. Here, we do not intend to
BST C High Good Medium No discuss the working principle of each MPPT algorithm. Our aim is
Slide mode control M Medium Very Fast Yes to provide some guidance principles for the designers to select a
good
proper MPPT according to the characteristics of solar-powered
Temperature M High Low Medium No
Gradient descent M High Good Medium No aircraft.
Numerical based C High Good Medium No Many designers have realized that the energy is the crucial
Intelligent control C Very Very Fast Yes constraint for the success flights of solar-powered aircrafts
based: FLC high good [10,14,114], so, the tracking accuracy and energy tracking factor
Intelligent control C Very Good Fast Yes
based: ANN high
are important for the MPPT applied in solar-powered aircraft.
Intelligent control C Very Good Fast Yes For example, the Zephyr had been equipped with an advanced
based: PSO high power management system to ensure the photovoltaic cells
Load parameters C High Low Slow No operate at or near their peak power point whether the cells are
based
working in propulsion or energy storage mode [108].
β-Method C High Good Fast Yes
Three point MPPT C High Good Fast No During the flight of aircraft, the operational condition of
Parasitic C Very Good Medium Yes photovoltaic varies drastically with the changes of altitude and
capacitance high attitude, and the partial shading conditions also will be encoun-
One cycle control M High Good Fast No tered. So the high transient tracking speed and the ability to deal
Variable inductor M Medium Good Medium No
Current sweep C Medium Low Medium No
with partial shading are also required.
Array C Low Low Slow Yes In Ref. [52], Bhatnagar et al. have compared against each MPPT
reconfiguration algorithms in terms of some critical parameters, such as the
Linearization S Very Good Fast No number of variables used, complexity, accuracy, speed, hardware
based high
implementation, cost, tracking efficiency and so on. According on
State space based C High Good Medium Yes
PV output S High Good Medium Yes above discussion and based on the application requirements of
senseless solar-powered aircraft, the MPPT algorithms in green part of
Biological swarm C Very Good Fast Yes Table 6 are suitable for the designers to select.
chasing high After designing and constructing the algorithms of MPPT in the
System oscillation C High Good Medium No
hardware, it is usually embedded in a DC/DC converter which
control
DC-link capacitor C High Very Fast Yes inserted between the photovoltaic module and the load, battery or
droop good other power components, as shown in Fig. 13. Fig. 14 illustrates a
completed hardware of MPPT installed in the fuselage of a solar-
powered aircraft [2].

energy density is not high enough and becomes the crucial

constraint to support a HALE flight.
The fuel cells hold the promise of achieving the highest energy
density about 450–550 W h/kg, as shown in Table 5. Although
it has the potential to achieve a breakthrough in the aircraft field
in theory, its concentrated mass will introduce a substantial
complexity into the aircraft’s flight dynamics. So, in current
technological level, it is not appropriate to apply the fuel cell on
the solar-powered aircraft.
By the comparison of all the types of rechargeable battery
which have been installed on solar-powered aircraft, we recom-
mend that the most promising rechargeable battery in solar-
powered aircraft is Li–S battery. Since it not only has a relatively
higher energy density, but also can be installed as a thin-film
sandwich within the wing and make the weight of rechargeable
battery laterally distribute along the wing. Fig. 13. Function of MPPT controller in solar-powered aircraft [116].
104 X.-Z. Gao et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 44 (2015) 96–108

Fig. 14. MPPT installed in the fuselage of solar-powered aircraft [2].

From above discussion, it can be seen that designing an

efficient and lightweight MPPT device to make voltage and current
work for a maximum power is an important way of reaching to a
high endurance flight [2].

6. The other methods to extract and store energy

Currently, the photovoltaic cell, rechargeable battery, and MPPT

are the main research points about the methods to extract and
store energy for solar-powered aircraft all around the world.
However, the major handicap associated with the development
of solar-powered aircraft is still the limited on-board energy
capacity [60,117–119].
Therefore, it is necessary to improve the battery technologies as
well as finding the other methods to extract and store energy for
solar-powered aircraft. Among the many methods, the methods to
extract energy from wind shear and store energy by gravitational
potential are considered to be the most promising way to enhance
the HALE ability of solar-powered aircraft.
Fig. 15. The average strength and direction of wind in Changsha (28.21N, 112.61E).

6.1. Energy extraction from wind shear

The idea of energy extraction from wind shear comes from the
observations of albatrosses who can fly long distances even
around the world almost without flapping their wings [120].
Rayleigh [121] is known as the first one to propose that the birds
can extract energy in a horizontal but non-uniform wind field in
the year of 1883, and named this phenomenon as dynamic soaring.
After his pioneering works, many researchers [61,63,118–120,122]
have studied this phenomenon, and try to design an aircraft to
extract energy from wind shear.
The idea of dynamic soaring now have been widely accepted by
scholars in aviation, especially for aircrafts which may be con-
trolled automatically to extract energy from wind shear to greatly
extend flight duration and distance [123]. Since wind shear is Fig. 16. The dynamic soaring trajectory of solar-powered aircraft for loitering [124].

persistently distributed in the upper atmosphere from altitude of

10 to 20 km [124], as shown in Fig. 15, incorporating with the rapid
technologies development of solar-powered aircraft, dynamic
soaring may be considered as an alternate energy source for
aircraft both in day and night.
A typical flight trajectory of dynamic soaring is shown in Fig. 16,
by repeating this maneuver, the aircraft can continue flying almost
indefinitely without having to put in much effort, in effect,
it is extracting energy from the wind shear. Incorporating with
dynamic soaring, it can be expect that the long-endurance
performance of solar-powered aircraft will be greatly enhanced
since the power requirements can be reduced without adding
additional weight on the aircraft.
In engineering, Langelaan and Roy considered that the perception-
sensing and persistence-staying are the crucial technical challenges
for UAVs to fly like birds [123]. Similar to their standpoints, here, we
argue that there are at least four major issues which need further
study to pave the way to long-endurance flight by the way of energy
extraction from wind shear, and we believe the clues to solve these
problems can be found from research of the birds in nature.
First, the energy gain mechanisms. There are many theories to
interpret how the albatrosses to extract energy from wind field,
the typical theories are dynamic soaring proposed by Raleigh [121]
and sweeping flight proposed by Wilson [125]. The former
believes that the birds make use of the gradient in wind velocity
 X.-Z. Gao et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 44 (2015) 96–108
near the surface of the sea to extract energy. The later considers
that the birds make incidental use of updrafts to keep flight.
Recently, the study of Richardson, P. L. has shown that, under
typical wind and wave condition, albatrosses draw 80% to 90% of
their total flight energy from dynamic soaring, and the other
comes from the so called sweep flight [120]. Sachs and Bonadonna
give a more intuitive interpretation about energy gain mechan-
isms in dynamic soaring by GPS tracking of albatrosses [126].
These studies are very important for people to understand the
flight of birds, while for the designers of UAVs, they are more eager
to know what kinds of configuration are more suitable to extract
energy from wind and which parameters in UAVs are tightly
coupled with the energy extraction efficiency.
Second, wind field estimation. The detailed patterns of alba-
trosses’ foraging behavior on a small to medium scale have been
studied by ornithologists for many years [127], and they found
that the small-scale flight paths show typical zigzag patterns,
which are tightly coupled with respect to wind conditions. The fact
that albatrosses can adjust their searching behavior according to
wind indicates they have the ability to sense the changes of wind
in environment very well. However, how albatrosses do this is still
a puzzle, and how to do this for an small UAV with standard
autopilot sensor suite is a complex problem for the scientists and
engineers in aviation. Langelaan et al. [128] and Lawrance et al.
[129] have done some pioneering works for this problem, but the
estimation accuracy and robustness need to be further improved.
Third, path planning in varied wind conditions. The study of
Weimerskirch et al. has shown that the foraging range, travel and
flight speeds, and even the mass of albatrosses are changed with
wind pattern [130]. Their observations show that the increased
intensity and poleward westerly winds resulted in a foraging range
shift towards the pole as well as an increase in flight speeds. This
implies that, given different wind conditions, the birds will take
different foraging movements to reduce flights cost. To study the
internal relationships between the wind condition and foraging
movement of albatrosses has great significance for the path
planning of UAVs. The aims of this study are to answer two
questions raised by the designers of UAVs: (1) what kinds of flight
path is the most efficient in energy cost, and (2) what wind
conditions are required for a UAV to maintain perpetual flight.
Finally, the aerodynamical characteristics of slight morphing of
the wing. Although the albatrosses do not flap their wings over
long distances [120], they need a slight morphing in wing to
change their aerodynamic characteristics and control their flight
path. Lentink et al. show that the morphing or the sweep of the
wing can halve sink speed or triple turning rate for swifts [131]
and SmartBird demonstrated that the aerodynamic efficiency of a
wing can be improved from 30% with passive torsion to 80% with
active torsion [132]. Similar studies with albatrosses in dynamic
soaring have not yet been taken. The observation about the slight
change of albatrosses’ wing in dynamic soaring with some degree
of accuracy and particularity is necessary. This study is propitious
to reveal how albatrosses control their aerodynamic characteristics
in dynamic soaring and sweep flight. It can also give some
inspiration for scholars in aviation to design the wing and control
law for UAVs.
We are confident to believe that incorporating with the rapid
development of modern sensors and small on-board computers
with modern control techniques, the flight feat of birds may
become a new way to explore the energy from nature and may
enlighten people on the road leading to long-endurance flight.
6.2. Energy storage by gravitational potential
The power requirement of aircraft is decided by the flight
trajectory, thus it is worth to study the correlation between the
105
power requirement and the trajectory planning. Shiau and Ma [77]
realize this problem and jointly optimize the design-parameters
and cruise speed during level flight to design a solar-powered
aircraft. For the case they studied, the optimization reduces the
mass of the aircraft and increases the cruise speed simultaneously.
Klesh and Kabamba [133,134] also prove that level flight trajectory
planning for solar-powered aircraft has a great impact on their
energy consumption. Spangelo and Gilbert [6] formulate a new
optimization problem about flight trajectories for solar-powered
aircraft with specified closed ground tracks. By their study, they
find that the average input power to battery with variable speed
and altitude is greater than that with constant speed and altitude.
Other relative works such as optimal level turn can be seen in [3].
All these works prove that the power trajectory planning is crucial
for solar-powered aircraft to have a better performance, but they
don’t pay attention on the problem of how to operate solar-
powered aircraft without solar irradiation which is very important
for aircraft to achieve the aim of long-endurance.
The most common method in engineering application to deal
with this problem is to let the solar-powered aircraft carry
rechargeable battery [135]. While under current technological
level, the weight of the rechargeable batteries needs to occupy
around 30% of the total mass of solar-powered aircrafts to achieve
the aim of long endurance over days [11,84]. Although more
rechargeable battery can provide more energy during night, the
weight of additional batteries needs more energy to sustain
continuous flight at the same time, as shown in Ref. [14]. Thus,
how many rechargeable batteries should be taken for long-
endurance purpose is a crucial problem needed to be solved for
the designers of solar-powered aircraft. Prof. Sachs G. formulates
the trajectory planning problem of solar-powered aircraft from a
new viewpoint: The surplus energy of solar powered during day
can be stored by gravitational potential [65]. He has demonstrated
in the paper that with an appropriate trajectory control, it is
possible for the solar-powered aircraft to stay aloft during night
with minimum or even no solar energy to be stored in recharge-
able battery. If the solar-powered aircraft can work in this way,
then the mass penalty of rechargeable battery can be removed.
Undoubtedly, it will bring great change in the conception of
designation and development of solar-powered aircraft. Motivated
by his ideas, the properties of the maximum endurance path of
gravitational gliding have been studied in Ref. [66], and a new
energy management strategy has been proposed in Ref. [67], other
relative works about the energy stored by gravitational potential
for bird and UAV can be seen in [136,137].
The solar-powered aircraft-Solar impulse has successfully used
the method to store energy by gravitational potential. During the
day, the pilot ascends the aircraft to a higher altitude (about
8000 m) in thinner atmosphere to convert the energy from
photovoltaic to gravitational potential in altitude. As the sun
begins to set on the horizon, the pilot reduces the motors and
initiates a gentle descent (about 0.4 m/s) to a low night loitering
altitude of 1000–1500 m meters, as shown in Fig. 17. The aircraft
can glide for 4–5 h consuming almost no electric energy. When the
lowest altitude is reached, usually long after sunset, the motors
will be powered by the batteries and used to maintain a level flight
until the morning. As the breathtaking tones of the sun on the
horizon start filling the sky with warmth, the aircraft can once
again begin its ascent [138].
The method to store energy in gravitational potential is not as
the method to store energy by rechargeable battery, it can store
the energy without any weight penalty, and thus it is a very
promising technological route to achieve the HALE flight for solar-
powered aircraft.
Fig. 18 gives an intuitionistic description about the influence of
the duration of solar irradiation and initial altitude on the
106 X.-Z. Gao et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 44 (2015) 96–108

To select a proper MPPT algorithm for solar-powered aircraft,

the performances of tracking accuracy, energy tracking factor,
transient tracking speed, and the ability to deal with partial
shading need to be considered. Since the energy is crucial during
the flight of aircraft and the operational condition of photovoltaic
varies drastically with the changes of altitude and attitude, and the
partial shading conditions also will be encountered.
The methods to extract energy from wind shear and store
energy by gravitational potential are the most promising ways to
enhance the high-altitude, long-endurance ability of solar-
powered aircraft, since dynamic soaring can be considered as an
Fig. 17. The flight cycle of solar impulse [138].
alternate energy source for aircraft to solar both in day and night,
and the gravitational potential can store the energy without any
weight penalty.

References

Fig. 18. The phase-plane of the duration of solar irradiation and initial altitude
[139]. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader
is referred to the web version of this article.)
equivalence of gravitational potential and rechargeable battery on
energy storage. It can be found that the longer the duration of
solar irradiation and the higher the initial altitude, the efficiency of
gravitational potential will be less and less than that of recharge-
able battery on energy storage. The red line in Fig. 18 indicates the
dividing line of the region. On the left side of the red line, the
efficiency of gravitational potential is greater than that of
rechargeable battery, and on the right side of the red line, the
efficiency of gravitational potential is less than that of recharge-
able battery. This figure can provide useful guidance and govern-
ing principles for the design of an appropriate method to store
energy. It can be expected that the endurance performance of
solar-powered aircraft will be greatly improved by the application
of energy storage using gravitational potential.
7. Conclusions
The methods to extract and store energy for solar-powered
aircraft are reviewed in this paper. The conclusions of this paper
can be summarized as follows:
The silicon photovoltaic cells are the main way to extract
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weight of substrate; the second one is the cost-effectiveness.
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