DOI: https://doi.org/10.15368/theses.2015.134
Available at: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/1459
Date of Award
9-2015
Degree Name
MS in Aerospace Engineering
Department/Program
Aerospace Engineering
Advisor
Robert McDonald
Abstract
Small electric uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAV) represent a rapidly expanding market requiring optimization in both efficiency and weight; efficiency is critical during cruise or loiter where the vehicle operates at part power for up to 99% of the mission time. Of the four components (battery, motor, propeller, and electronic speed controller (ESC)) of the electric propulsion system used in small UAVs, the ESC has no accepted performance model and almost no published performance data. To collect performance data, instrumentation was developed to measure electrical power in and out of the ESC using the two wattmeter method and current sense resistors; data was collected with a differential simultaneous data acquisition system. Performance of the ESC was measured under different load, commanded throttle, bus voltage, and switching frequency, and it was found that ESC efficiency decreases with increasing torque and decreasing bus voltage and does not vary much with speed and switching frequency. The final instrumentation was limited to low-voltage systems and error propagation calculations indicate a great deal of error at low power measurements; despite these limitations, an understanding of ESC performance appropriate for conceptual design of these systems was obtained.
MODELING AND TEST OF THE EFFICIENCY OF ELECTRONIC SPEED CONTROLLERS FOR BRUSHLESS DC MOTORS
Included in
Aeronautical Vehicles Commons, Electro-Mechanical Systems Commons, Power and Energy Commons, Propulsion and Power Commons, Systems Engineering and Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Commons