Análise integrada de melhoria em um protótipo de drone multirotor solar: simulações CFD, caracterização de encapsulantes e testes de potência

Abstract

In recent decades, to address the environmental crisis caused by human use of fossil energy, solar energy has been considered one of the possible alternative energy sources. Photovoltaic solar cells are being used in a variety of applications, from powering watches and calculators to charging batteries for boats. One of the areas of interest for researchers is alternative energies associated with drones, whether for mapping solar farms, monitoring wind farms, or designing prototypes using solar cells. The objective of this work is to apply innovations and improvements to a hybrid solar multirotor drone as a continuation of the research conducted by two graduates from the Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering at the Federal University of Ceará (PPGEM-UFC). The study began with a bibliometric analysis related to drones powered by or utilizing solar energy. For this analysis, documents were selected from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, and duplicates were unified and removed from the data, resulting in 404 documents. From the analysis, it was observed that China is the country with the most publications, accounting for around 40%. The four institutions that produced the most on this topic are all based in China, representing about 46% of the listed publications. To achieve these objectives, an aerodynamic study was developed through fluid dynamics simulations of the three prototypes built by (VELANDIA, 2018), using Ansys Fluent software with the SST K-ω turbulence model. The results showed a large turbulence region at the rear and negative lift coefficients in all three prototypes, factors responsible for the poor aerodynamic performance of the models. Another proposed study involved evaluating the mass, electrical power, and mechanical resistance of acrylic encapsulants in solar cells through analyses using a digital scale, conventional multimeter, and a universal tensile testing machine. The results indicated that PETG sheets are a potential solution for improving mechanical resistance, with an increase in mass, although this increase is smaller compared to 2 mm acrylic sheets. To assess the potential power of the four motor/propeller assemblies and verify the maximum load capacity associated with the drone, a test bench was created using 3D printing, and the motor connection circuit was assembled. The maximum thrust capacity of the four motors was 1145.5g with a 2S battery and 2311g with a 3S battery. Therefore, a 3S battery is better suited for the project.