Next Generation Hybrid Power Plant: A Solution to

Continuous Flight
Md Abu Horaira Banna1, Md. Rayhan Afsar2
Military Institute of Science & Technology, Dhaka- 1216

Gp Capt. Md. Abdus Salam 3

Military Institute of Science & Technology, Dhaka- 1216

Although earth atmosphere is exposed to a quite large amount of solar energy (1000
watt/m2 at sea level), but still efficiency of using this energy is limited. In this paper we
propose a new concept of using this solar energy to operate a continuous flight. We propose
a hybrid power plant for UAV which is combined of solar cells, atmospheric water generator
(AWG) and fuel cell. During day time energy harvested by the solar cells is used to produce
water by the atmospheric water generator. This water is used as fuel by the fuel cell which
generates the power required for the UAV. The excess water produced during day time is
stored in the water tank, which is placed inside the wing and this stored water is used for the
night operation. Our study revealed that, the final energy output by this hybrid power plant
should be about three times more than the solar system alone, while the increase in empty
weight is only a fixed parameter of substantially small quantity. In this paper we represent
the power plant layout, modeling, major airframe parameters and simulation of a
continuously flying UAV propelled by the proposed hybrid power plant.

Nomenclature
θ = incidence angle of sunlight upon the aircraft, deg
η sol = efficiency of solar cells
η mot = efficiency of propulsive motor
η prop = propeller efficiency
SW = wing surface area, m2
SS = solar surface area, m2
AR = aspect ratio
φ = bank angle, deg
el = solar elevation angle, deg
el0 = maximum solar elevation angle, deg
a = azimuth of the sun, deg
ψ = heading angle, deg
ρ = air density, kgm-3
CD0 = parasite drag coefficient
CDi = induced drag coefficient
CL = lift coefficient
e = oswald efficiency factor
T = thrust, N
V = relative airspeed, ms-1
g = gravitational acceleration, ms-2
seppm = solar energy produced per minute, watt-minute
ecpm = energy consumed per minute, watt-minute
Pmax = maximum possible propulsive power required, watt

1
Undergraduate Student, Aeronautical Engineering, Mirpur cantonment-Dhaka, AIAA student member (487907).
2
Undergraduate Student, Aeronautical Engineering, Mirpur cantonment-Dhaka, AIAA student member (465566).
3
Head of the Department, Aeronautical Engineering, Mirpur cantonment- Dhaka.

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 PR = propulsive power required for minimum power condition flight, watt
Pavionics = power required for avionics equipment’s, watt
Psd = power spectral density of the sun, Wm-2
Pav = power available at solar module, Wm-2
E = collected energy, watt-minute
m = gross mass of aircraft, kg
m0 = empty mass of aircraft, kg
mW = mass of stored water, kg
min = increase in water mass, kg
mdec = decrease in water mass, kg
mairframe = mass of airframe, kg
msolar = mass of solar module, kg
mAWG = dry mass of atmospheric water generator, kg
mfuelcell = dry mass of fuel cell, kg
mbattery = battery mass, kg
mmotor = mass of propulsive motor, kg
mservo = mass of servos, kg
mavionics = mass of avionics equipment’s, kg
mmisc = mass of miscellaneous parts, kg
t = time, minute

I. Introduction
A continuous flight is characterized by perpetual endurance which indicates the ability of an UAV to collect
energy from environment which is sufficient to sustain level flight throughout its total life time. Necessity of
continuous flight has been long felt in aviation for pseudo-satellite purpose or months or years long surveillance
operation. Although the unit cost of an UAV destined for continuous flight should be very high, but it has some
other bright side too! First of all the number of required units decreases dramatically. Secondly, maintenance cost
and ground operation cost of the UAV becomes almost zero. Finally, most of all, we do not need to provide energy
for such kind of UAV as they are perpetual in nature. Moreover these UAV are free of environmental hazard.
Lots of efforts have been noticed in aviation for a continuous flight. And use of solar energy is still the only
mean to operate a continuous flight. The most conventional method of continuous flight is the use of solar cells and
a battery. During day time solar energy harvested from atmosphere is used to propel the UAV and charge a battery
(mostly a Lithium-ion battery). A maximum power point tracker (MPPT) is used to assure maximum efficiency of
the solar cells. The battery provides the required energy during night. Some solar UAV also adopts the idea of
altitude gain to use potential energy to sustain endurance during energy crisis. But all these solar UAV suffer from
two major design constraint and these are low wing loading due to large wing area required for solar module and
low specific power due to the limited efficiency of solar cells. A better efficient way to use this solar energy is
required to overcome both these constraints. Here comes the idea of using fuel cell.
Although some works have been done on hybrid power plant combined of fuel cell and solar cells. UAV using
such kind of hybrid power plant are propelled by solar energy during day time and fuel cell is used during night. So,
during day the UAV is flying with the extra weight of the fuel required for fuel cell, which is definitely inefficient.
Moreover the UAV has to come back to the base for refueling at regular interval and this discontinuity is not
expected for a continuous flight. At this point we adopt the idea of producing fuel (i.e. water) onboard by using solar
energy during day time and simultaneously feed this fuel to the fuel cell to meet the energy required for the UAV.
The stored fuel at the end of the day is used for night operation.
Water is present in air in the state of vapor. There are various atmospheric water generators (AWG) available in
the markets which collect this water from atmosphere. Study on several market available AWG products revealed a
requirement of 350wh energy per liter of water collection from air at standard condition. Another study on fuel cell
indicated 1200wh energy output from 1 liter of water. So, instead of direct use of solar energy to propel the UAV
and charging the battery if we use it to produce water we can increase the final energy output more than 3 times. At
this time weight of AWG and fuel cell stack and cartridge will be added to the empty weight which is fixed, small in
quantity and predefined by the manufacturer. So, now we have a hybrid power plant which can produce its own fuel
onboard and can fly continuously throughout its total life span. And interestingly we have been able to overcome the
design constraints of low wing loading and low specific power by increasing the overall energy output with a small
amount of weight penalty.

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 II. Solar Energy
The Earth receives 174 petawatts (PW) of incoming solar radiation (insolation) at the upper atmosphere. The
average amount of solar radiation (I0) received at the edge of earth’s atmosphere (at air mass 0, AM 0) is
approximately 1354 W/m2. Since the sun-earth orbit is elliptical the value of I0 changes throughout the year as
shown below.

Figure 2.1 Solar Radiation per Month of Year.

A. Solar Energy-Collection Model

Collection of solar power is governed by the following relation

Pav(θ ) = η sol Psd Ss cos(θ ) if cos(θ ) ≥ 0 (2.1)1

cos(θ ) = cos(φ ) sin(el) – cos(el) sin(a - ψ ) sin(φ ) (2.2)

As most of the time of its mission, a continuously flying surveillance UAV loiters at a relatively large radius to
cover maximum area, we can neglect the effect of bank angle. Hence eq. (2.2) further reduces to

cos(θ ) = sin(el) (2.3)

For simplicity, elevation angle of sun can be considered as a periodic function of different day times as below

el = el0 sin (ω t) (2.4)

For initial modeling purpose a solar day (3rd September, 2013) was considered to evaluate the elevation angle of
sun at Dhaka (longitude: 90.407143, latitude: 23.709921) at various day time.

Figure 2.2 Elevation angle of sun at different day time at Dhaka on 3rd September, 2013.

According to this analysis, for positive elevation angle (from 0545 hours to 1800 hours), eq. (2.4) becomes
el = 74 sin ( t) (2.5)

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 Finally eq. (1) becomes

Pav = η sol Psd Ss sin( 74 sin( t)) (2.6)

So on 3rd September, 2013 at Dhaka the energy collection during day time is given by

E= (2.7)

III. Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG)

Atmospheric Water Generation is a young technology under development which aims at harvesting vapor
molecules from the air and produce water. Each cubic meter of air inside the Earth first atmospheric layer contains
between 4 and 25g of dissolved water vapor. Water generation from air humidity can be observed as an everyday
phenomenon. Dew condensing on cold drink glasses, water dripping out air conditioners and dehumidification
systems are all basic forms of AWG that technology can replicate and enhance to provide sustainable water
sources.2

A. Commercially Available Products

A set of 15 off-the-shelf atmospheric water generators by international manufacturers has been considered to
establish the state of the art of the systems currently available on the market. All the product data have been
extracted from the relevant datasheets to July 2013. To understand the feasibility of AWG on an UAV two
parameters were chosen to evaluate the market available AWG products. These are
i. Energy consumption index (Energy required per liter of water production)
ii. Portability index (Dry mass / water production capacity)

Figure 3.1 Energy Consumption Index of 15 Market Available AWG Products.

Figure 3.2 Portability Index of 15 Market Available AWG Products.

The analysis can be summarized as
i. Average energy consumption of 525Wh per liter of water production
ii. 1.5kg of system dry mass per liter of water production capacity

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B. Future AWG Compatible With UAV
Now-a-days research is going on to develop the next generation AWG products, which are expected to
significantly outperform the current available products and to redefine the standards for a small scale water
generation from air. At this point we become optimistic and set our own specifications of the AWG for our proposed
hybrid power plant as below
i. 350Wh energy consumption per kg of water production
ii. 1.5kg of total dry mass
Our desired AWG produces water with the energy from solar module during day and stores it in the fuel tank
placed inside the wing.

IV. Fuel Cell

Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that convert chemical energy of the reactants directly into electricity and
heat.3A fuel cell consists of an electrolyte layer in contact with a porous anode and cathode on either side. Gaseous
fuel is fed to the anode while an oxidant is fed to the cathode. An electrochemical reaction takes place causing ion
conduction through the membrane and produces an electric current.4

A. Off-the-shelf Fuel Cell for Hybrid Power Plant

Atmospheric flight using fuel cell is a recent development. Most of these fuel cells run on pressurized hydrogen
as fuel. But there are exceptions like the AEROPAK fuel cell system manufactured by Horizon Energy Systems
which has a hydrogen generator itself.5 The AEROPAK system is comprised of 3 sections: a fuel tank- where the
hydrogen-rich NaBh4 mix is poured, a reactor system that produces pure hydrogen gas with the help of a special
catalyst, and a third section which integrates a fuel cell stack, electronics, and small peripherals.

Figure 4.1 AEROPAK6 Figure 4.2 Power output characteristics

of AEROPAK6

Table 4.1 AEROPAK fuel cell specifications

Dry Energy Output per Liter of
Continuous Power Max. Operating
Type Mass Fuel (Water)
Output (W) Altitude (m)
(kg) (Wh)
Cartridge Type-1 1.26 200 2000 1200

V. Modeling
A. Mass

m = m0+mw (5.1)

m0 = mairframe+msolar+mAWG+mfuel cell +mbattery+mmotor+mservo+mavionics+mmisc (5.2)

mairframe = (5.58/9.81) SW1.59 AR0.71 (5.3)7

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 Due to the installation of hybrid power plant and a fuel tank inside the wing, we rewrite the equation

.
SW1.59 AR0.71
.
mairframe = 1.15 (5.4)

Considering the density of industrially available solar cell WB-29, the mass of solar module is given by

.
msolar = (5.5)

(5.6) 7
.
mmotor = Pmax
Table 5.1 Mass of various parts.
Parts Mass (kg)
mAWG 1.5
mfuel cell 1.26
mbattery6 0.23
mservo 0.12
mavionics 1.5
mmisc 0.5

.
S1.59 AR0.71 +
. . .
m0 = + Pmax + 5.11 (5.7)

B. Energy
I. Energy Collection Model
SS = 0.9 SW (5.8)

seppm = η sol Psd Ss sin( 74 sin( t)) (5.9)

Increase in water mass per minute is given by

min = (5.10)

II. Energy Consumption Model

Energy consumption was modeled for minimum power condition flight8-9.

PR = T V (5.11)

For level flight

T = ρ V2 SW (CD0 + K CL2) (5.12)

At minimum power condition

CD0 = CDi (5.13)

( ) ( )
V= (5.14)
( ) ( )

So equation eq. (5.11) becomes

PR = 1.754765351 (5.15)
( ) ( )

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 ecpm = + Pavionics (5.16)

Assuming avionics energy consumption as 10 percent of propulsive energy requirement

ecpm = 1.1 (5.17)

Decrease in water mass per minute is given by

mdec = (5.18)

C. Mission
I. Course layout
After takeoff the aircraft follows a circular course. For modeling purpose this
course is considered fixed and continued till the end of operation. Radius of the
circular path is considered sufficiently big, so that the bank angle becomes
necessarily small to agree with the eq. (2.3).
II. Cycle
One cycle is defined as one day (24 hours). Every cycle starts from 0545 hours
(local time of Dhaka) and continues for the next 24 hours. Again each cycle is
modeled as two different phases. First phase starts from 0545 and ends by 1800
hours (a total of 735 minutes). During this stage the local solar elevation angle is
positive and hence solar energy is available. Second phase starts from 1800 hours
and ends by 0545 hours of the next day (a total of 705 minutes). During this stage
solar elevation angle is negative. Fig 5.1 Course Layout.

1800 1800

First Phase Second

(Day) Phase
+ve (Night)
elevation -ve elevation
angle angle

0545 0545

Figure 5.2 Mission Cycle

VI. Simulation
MATLAB coding was used for simulation purpose. Initial aim of the simulation was to find out the possible
airframe parameters (i.e. wing area, aspect ratio) for which the aircraft can be designed to meet the requirements of a
continuous flight. At our simulation initially (i.e. starting point of first phase) the aircraft flies with 400gm water
which is used to generate energy when the solar energy isn’t sufficient to produce required amount of water by
which the aircraft can be operated. After that when solar energy is sufficient to produce more water than required to
operate the aircraft, the excess water is stored. Stored water at the end of the day is used to produce the energy
required during night. If at the end of the cycle the remaining water is just exactly the same 400gm than we can
consider that the aircraft is capable of giving a continuous flight.

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 Wing Area Aspect Ratio

Gross Weight

Solar Energy Energy

Consumption

NO
400g Water
Mass of Water
Remaining at the
end of Cycle?

YES
End
Figure 6.1 Process layout of iteration.

Table 6.1 Parameters that are constant or assumed constant during iterations.
Parameters Value Units
η sol 16.9% (Typical value for WB-29 solar cell) -
η mot 70% -
η prop 60% -
g 9.81 ms-2
ρ 0.993 (At 1000m altitude) Kgm-3
e 90% -
Psd 1000 Wm-2
CD0 0.02 -

As the study concentrates on small UAV, so intuitively the iteration of wing surface area was started from 0.5m2
and ended at 2m2 with a step of 0.01m2. Again for every individual value of wing surface area aspect ratio was
iterated from 5 to 20 with a step of 0.5. The qualifying airframe parameters for a continuous flight are represented
below

Figure 6.2 Qualified airframe parameters for a continuous flight.

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 Any pair of the above airframe parameters can be followed to design a continuously flying aircraft with the
proposed hybrid power plant. Now from these data we select a random aspect ratio of 16 and for which the
minimum wing surface area is 1.18m2. Now for these specific airframe parameters we continue further simulation.

Figure 6.3 Production of solar energy from 0545 hours to 1800 hours.

Figure 6.4 Variation of mass.

Initially the produced solar energy isn’t sufficient to produce required amount of water to propel the aircraft, so
the aircraft is propelled by the reserved water and as a result mass decreases gradually. During this time produced
solar energy is used to charge the battery. After that when sufficient solar energy is available then at first harvested
solar energy is used to produce water which is just required to propel the aircraft. The remaining solar energy is
stored to the battery. During this time the water mass is unchanged and so does the gross mass of the aircraft. After
that when the battery is fully charged the water mass and the thus the gross mass increases gradually. Again at the
end of the day when solar energy isn’t sufficient, stored water is begin to be used and both the masses decrease
gradually. During night both the masses decrease gradually until the end of the complete cycle.

Figure 6.5 Power consumption.

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 Figure 6.6 Energy capacity of power plant.
Available energy of the power plant is just simply proportional to the mass of water. It reaches to its maximum
point when the mass of stored water is also at maximum.

Figure 6.7 Battery charging.

A 30Wh battery was modeled for safety and efficient power distribution. This battery is charged by the solar
energy. Initial charging rate is high, as initially harvested solar energy is used only to charge the battery. After that
charging rate decreases when the solar energy is used firstly to produce water and then charge the battery. When the
battery is fully charged, it is cut off.

VII. Conclusion
One of the major challenges of this proposed hybrid power plant is the compatible power management system
design which is beyond the scope of this study. Again simulation was done for only minimum power condition flight
which limits the performance of the aircraft for other flight conditions (i.e. climb, high speed cruise and maneuver).
Performance of the power plant will deviate from the simulated result especially during small radius surveillance, as
the effect of bank angle was neglected during simulation. Effects of cloud, humidity, temperature and altitude were
neglected and thus simulated performance will not exactly match the real performance. Mass and parasite drag
coefficient estimation was also done intuitively. Generally parasite drag estimation requires advance computational
or experimental method, which is done after the preliminary design. And here our concern is only with the
conceptual phase of the proposal. Still the observations of the study strongly support the success of the proposed
hybrid power plant to operate a continuous flight.

Acknowledgment
This paper is the result of our study for the last five months on next generation hybrid power plant for UAV. We
would like to thank our advisor, Gp Capt. Md. Abdus Salam for the great opportunity he gave us to study and write
this paper, and also for his advices, support and leadership. Finally, we would like to thank our family, especially
our parents for having supported us all these times.

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Federico Nitidi, “Atmospheric Water Generation technologies for potable water production. A review. Background
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6
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André NOTH, “Design of Solar Powered Airplanes for Continuous Flight”, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne,
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