Electrical and Computer Engineering

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Power System for Solar Electric Aircraft

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Kourosh Sedghisigarchi

Project Description: 

The objective of this project is to develop an optimized scaled electric aircraft propulsion power system with photovoltaic power generation. The major goal is to maximize flight time by optimizing the electric power system losses for a scaled electric aircraft considering weight, size, cost, and all possible risks involved.

Students from EE or CompE familiar with power systems (ECE 411), power electronics (ECE 412), energy storage, and control (ECE 480) backgrounds are required. Familiarity with MATLAB/Simulink and simpowersystem toolbox is needed. The following link is a short video of 18 minutes successful flight achieved by the solar/battery aircraft:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqu3hNMpehk