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Renewable Energy and High Efficiency Energy Systems Applied to Aerospace Vehicles and Facilities

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A: Sustainable Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2020) | Viewed by 20729

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Carlos Ulloa

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Guest Editor

Aeronautics and Space Engineering School, University of Vigo, 32004 Ourense, Spain
Interests: aerospace vehicles and facilities; UAV; energy efficiency; renewable energy; modelling and simulation

Dr. José Luis Míguez

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Guest Editor

School of Industrial Engineering, University of Vigo, Campus Lagoas Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain
Interests: energy efficiency, renewable energy, biomass, combustion, cogeneration, modelling and simulation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Following in the footsteps of other transport systems, such as automotive, the aeronautical industry is trying to include the use of renewable energy. Due to the relationship between energy and weight in flight efficiency, predictions suggest that commercial aviation will be the last transportation system to adopt alternative energy sources. Despite the fact that current technology is still advancing in this direction, the viability of the use of renewable energy sources in aeronautical propulsion will soon be a reality. Some aircrafts, such as UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), are already sensible in the application of renewable energy sources.

In addition to the propulsion of aerospace vehicles, renewable energies and high-efficiency energy systems can be incorporated into the airport auxiliary systems and the different aerospace facilities. Beyond renewable energy systems, other technologies like cogeneration, smart grids, or hybrid systems are some examples of high efficiency energy systems, which can be successfully applied to aerospace facilities and auxiliary systems.

This Special Issue will cover these promising and dynamic areas of research and development. Innovative papers regarding modelling, simulation, and performance assessment of renewable and/or high efficiency energy systems are welcomed in this Special Issue. This Special Issue also looks for papers to report advances on any aspects of these developments. The manuscripts should be unpublished and report significant advancements.

Dr. Carlos Ulloa
Dr. José Luis Míguez
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

aerospace energy system
UAV
high efficiency
modelling
simulation

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 3055 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Insulation on the Energy Demand of a Standardized Container Facility at Airports in Spain under Different Weather Conditions

by Miguel Ángel Álvarez-Feijoo, Pedro Orgeira-Crespo, Elena Arce, Andrés Suárez-García and José Roberto Ribas

Energies 2020, 13(20), 5263; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13205263 - 10 Oct 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2063

Abstract

Airports, broadly spread world-wide, present continuously increasing energy demands for heating and cooling purposes. Relocatable facilities within them could be built on recycling shipping containers provided with the right insulation layer, to reduce the outstanding consumption of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC). This research focuses on studying the effect of added insulation on the thermal performance of a construction in the scope of an airport facility, based on a recycled shipping container. Passive heating and cooling insulation strategies have shown good results in terms of energy savings. A series of simulations were performed along six different Spanish airports locations, selected to represent several climate conditions. Temperature evolution inside the container, and energy demands of the HVAC system were obtained to show that the insulation provided by phase change materials (PCM) is performing better than traditional insulation, or a raw container. Although there are slight behavior differences according to the climate, PCM can increase inside temperature even with no HVAC under certain circumstances. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy and High Efficiency Energy Systems Applied to Aerospace Vehicles and Facilities)

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15 pages, 4533 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of a Transient Model of a Lightweight, Portable and Flexible Air-Based PV-T Module for UAV Shelter Hangars

by Pedro Orgeira-Crespo, Carlos Ulloa, José M. Núñez and José A. Pérez

Energies 2020, 13(11), 2889; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13112889 - 05 Jun 2020

Viewed by 2047

Abstract

This research paper introduces a mathematical model to predict the performance of photovoltaic–thermal systems (PV-T), based on a thin layer flexible panel and an air pipe, by using the Trnsys^® software tool to simulate energetic systems. The main advantage of these types of panels is their easy portability, making them ideal to address thermal needs in several scenarios. In the military field, there is an important concern about the use of sustainable energy; for instance, cooling facilities for infantry tents used in their deployments. In this research, a PV-T panel to cover electrical power needs for an infantry’s hangar unmanned air vehicle (UAV) is introduced. The proposed thermal model, based on the novelty of inertial mass (lump) as an approach to real panel behavior, has been validated through the comparison between Trnsys’ model simulation data, a real weather station, and data obtained in a test bed. Genopt’s simulation software is used to fit the model, allowing for the prediction of heat transmission coefficient values. The good match between simulated and experimental data makes the proposed model suitable for the photovoltaic–thermal prediction of panel behavior. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy and High Efficiency Energy Systems Applied to Aerospace Vehicles and Facilities)

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21 pages, 6219 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Numerical Simulation and Validation of Thermoeletric Generator Based Self-Cooling System with Airflow

by Cheng-Xian Lin and Robel Kiflemariam

Energies 2019, 12(21), 4052; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12214052 - 24 Oct 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2755

Abstract

In this paper, a general numerical methodology is developed and validated for the simulation of steady as well as transient thermal and electrical behaviors of thermoelectric generator (TEG)-based air flow self-cooling systems. The present model provides a comprehensive framework to advance the study of self-cooling applications by combining fluid flow, heat transfer and electric circuit simulations. The methodology is implemented by equation-based coupled modeling capabilities from multidisciplinary fields to capture the dynamic thermos-electric interaction in TEG elements, enabling the simulation of overall heating/cooling/power characteristics as well as spatially distributed thermal and flow fields in the entire device. Experiments have been conducted on two types of self-cooling arrangements to measure the device temperature, voltage and power produced by TEG modules. It was found that the computational model was able to predict the experimental results within 5% error. A parametric study was carried out using the validated model to study the effect of heat sink geometry and TEG arrangements on device temperature and power produced by the device. It was found that the power for self-cooling could be maximized by proper matching of the TEG modules to the fluid mover. Although an increase in fin density results in a rise in fan power consumption, a marked increase in net power and decreases in thermal resistance are observed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy and High Efficiency Energy Systems Applied to Aerospace Vehicles and Facilities)

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19 pages, 6260 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of the Flow Distribution in a Particle Bed Reactor for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion

by Yu Ji, Ziping Liu, Jun Sun and Lei Shi

Energies 2019, 12(19), 3590; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12193590 - 20 Sep 2019

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3878

Abstract

Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) is regarded as the preferred option for the upcoming crewed interstellar exploration due to its excellent performance compared to the current most advanced chemical propulsion systems. Over the past several decades, many novel concepts have been proposed, among which the particle bed reactor (PBR) is the most efficient, compact, and lightweight method. Its unique features, such as the extremely high power density and the radial flow path of coolant in the fuel region, introduce many challengeable issues to the thermal hydraulic design of PBR, with the flow distribution being representative. In this work, the flow distribution process within the core is analyzed based on the understanding of the axial pressure profile in a dummy PBR. A “flow shift” phenomenon leading to the hot spot in the core is introduced first, and three methods, i.e., decreasing the pressure drop within the hot gas channel, increasing the flow resistance on the cold frit or hot frit, and changing the flow pattern from “Z” to “U”, are proposed to reduce the “flow shift” and the consequent temperature mal-distribution. The pros and cons of using cold frit or hot frit to distribute the coolant are also discussed. Finally, by using three numerical examples, these analyses are demonstrated. The findings here may provide technical support for PBR design. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy and High Efficiency Energy Systems Applied to Aerospace Vehicles and Facilities)

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12 pages, 3898 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Performance Prediction and Validation of a Small-Capacity Twisted Savonius Wind Turbine

by Hyeonmu Jang, Insu Paek, Seungjoo Kim and Deockjin Jeong

Energies 2019, 12(9), 1721; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12091721 - 07 May 2019

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4211

Abstract

In this study, an off-grid–type small wind turbine for street lighting was designed and analyzed. Its performance was predicted using a computational fluid dynamics model. The proposed wind turbine has two blades with a radius of 0.29 m and a height of 1.30 m. Ansys Fluent, a commercial computational fluid dynamics solver, was used to predict the performance, and the k-omega SST model was used as the turbulence model. The simulation result revealed a tip-speed ratio of 0.54 with a maximum power coefficient, or an aerodynamic rotor efficiency of 0.17. A wind turbine was installed at a measurement site to validate the simulation, and a performance test was used to measure the power production. To compare the simulation results obtained from the CFD simulation with the measured electrical power performance, the efficiencies of the generator and the controller were measured using a motor-generator testbed. Also, the control strategy of the controller was found from the field test and applied to the simulation results. Comparing the results of the numerical simulation with the experiment, the maximum power-production error at the same wind speed was found to be 4.32%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy and High Efficiency Energy Systems Applied to Aerospace Vehicles and Facilities)

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19 pages, 3284 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical and Experimental Estimation of the Efficiency of a Quadcopter Rotor Operating at Hover

by Andres M. Pérez Gordillo, Juan Sebastian Villegas Santos, Omar D. Lopez Mejia, Laura Juliana Suárez Collazos and Jaime A. Escobar

Energies 2019, 12(2), 261; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12020261 - 15 Jan 2019

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4702

Abstract

Globalization has led to an increase in the use of small copters for different activities such as geo-referencing, agricultural fields monitoring, survillance, among others. This is the main reason why there is a strong interest in the performance of small-scale propellers used in unmanned aerial vehicles. The flow developed by rotors is complex and the estimation of its aerodynamic performance is not a trivial process. In addition, viscous effects, when the rotor operates at low Reynolds, affect its performance. In the present paper, two different computational methods, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and the Unsteady Vortex Lattice Method (UVLM) with a viscous correction, were used to study the performance of an isolated rotor of a quadcopter flying at hover. The Multi Reference Frame model and transition

S S T

κ - ω

turbulence model were used in the CFD simulations. The tip vortex core growth was used to account for the viscous effects in the UVLM. The wake structure, pressure coefficient, thrust and torque predictions from both methods are compared. Thrust and torque results from simulations were validated by means of experimental results of a characterization of a single rotor. Finally, figure of merit of the rotor is evaluated showing that UVLM overestimates the efficiency of the rotor; meanwhile, CFD predictions are close to experimental values. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy and High Efficiency Energy Systems Applied to Aerospace Vehicles and Facilities)

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