Hybrid energy storage system for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)

Conventional fossil fuel powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has limited flight range which totally depends on the fuel it carries. Too much fuel on board is not possible for the airplane application due to weight limitation. In addition, fossil fuels produce emissions and pollutants. The most favourable candidate energy source to power the UAVs is solar energy. With the PV panel and energy storage devices, the UAV can get enough energy for very long range flights and high enough power for the auxiliary electrical loads. This paper presents a hybrid energy storage system which is composed of PV panel, rechargeable fuel cell and rechargeable battery to solve the energy issues of long endurance UAV. Finally, the MATLAB/SIMULINK model of each component is constructed and the simulation results are shown.