Power Oasis teams for high endurance solar powered electric drones
PowerOasis in Swindon is working with Alta Devices to develop a power system reference design for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (SUAS), or drones.
This is the world’s first reference design for integrated solar and lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery power systems for small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). By combining Alta Devices’ lightweight solar panel technology with PowerOasis’ expertise in hybrid power systems, small UAV developers can focus on leveraging their core expertise in aircraft design and performance.
“Up until now, it’s been nearly impossible to develop a hybrid solar/Li-ion UAV architecture for small aircraft because the solar technology compromised the design too severely. That is no longer true with Alta Devices’ solar technology,” said Pete Bishop, CTO of PowerOasis.
The reference architecture will target 2-4 meter (6.5-13 feet) span UAVs, using 5s-7s Li-ion batteries. Features include high efficiency, light weight, modular power systems, management of battery packs using a cell vendor agnostic, flexible battery management system (BMS), communication to ground control and on-board auto pilot with continuous real time power and energy data and conditioned power outputs for critical power and payload systems.
“In the past, a UAV manufacturer had to work with multiple companies to obtain the solar technology, downstream electronics, and power management software to create a solar/Li-ion hybrid powered system. Then, they had to design the system themselves,” said Alta Devices Chief Marketing Officer, Rich Kapusta. “By working together and providing a complete architecture for a well-crafted power system, PowerOasis and Alta Devices are streamlining the UAV development process. We are providing a complete system for electric aircraft and UAVs, eliminating the distraction and time required to focus on the intricacies of power design.”
Aircraft designers will be able to use the reference design to manage the complete energy generation, storage and power management system for a UAV. This is without having to bring this capability in-house, saving time and resources than can be better allocated to payload design and aircraft aerodynamics.
Many aircraft companies are turning to solar to provide added endurance to UAVs. A typical battery-powered UAV can normally stay aloft for only a few hours. With solar added to the wings, the same aircraft could fly all day.
The targeted release-date for the design is late 2017 and it will be available initially through Alta Devices and PowerOasis.
PowerOasis is the industry leader in 50W to 20kW hybrid power systems & energy efficiency solutions for a wide range of applications, from telecoms to transport and military deployments, combining in-house power electronics and software expertise enabling bespoke or high volume, high quality, leading edge power solutions.
New online mechanism for electric vehicle charging protects the Grid
Researchers at the University of Southampton have designed a new pricing mechanism that could change the way in which electric vehicles are charged. It is based on an online auction protocol that makes it possible to charge electric vehicles without overloading the local electricity network.
The paper – Online Mechanism Design for Electric Vehicle Charging – was presented this week at AAMAS 2011, Tenth Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, and outlines a system where electric vehicle owners use computerised agents to bid for the power to charge the vehicles and also organise time slots when a vehicle is available for charging.
“Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are expected to place a considerable strain on local electricity distribution networks. If many vehicles charge simultaneously, they may overload the local distribution network, so their charging needs to be carefully scheduled,” said Dr Alex Rogers, University of Southampton computer scientist and one of the authors.
To address this issue, Dr Rogers and his team turned to the field of online mechanism design. They designed a mechanism that allows vehicle owners to specify their requirements (for example, when they need the vehicle and how far they expect to drive). The system then automatically schedules charging of the vehicles’ batteries. The mechanism ensures that there is no incentive to ‘game the system’ by reporting that the vehicle is need earlier than is actually the case, and those users who place a higher demand on the system are automatically charged more than those who can wait.
“The mechanism leaves some available units of electricity un-allocated. This is counter-intuitive since it seems to be inefficient but it turns out to be essential to ensure that the vehicle owners don’t have to delay plugging-in or misreport their requirements, in an attempt to get a better deal,” said Dr Enrico Gerding, the lead author of the paper.
In a study based on the performance of currently available electric vehicles, performed by Dr Valentin Robu and Dr Sebastien Stein, the mechanism was shown to increase the number of electric vehicles that can be charged overnight, within a neighbourhood of 200 homes, by as much as 40 per cent.
The research follows on from Dr Rogers’ and Professor Nick Jennings’ work on developing agents that can trade on the stock market and manage crisis communications and Dr Rogers’ iPhone application, GridCarbon for measuring the carbon intensity of the UK grid.
Related articles
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- Fast charging station for electric vehicles (physorg.com)
- New iPhone App for EV Drivers (energyrefuge.com)
- What BMW Really Thinks About Electric Vehicles (fastcompany.com)
- GE to Buy 25,000 Electric Vehicles (brainz.org)
Bac2 demonstrates economic production for fuel cells
Scalable low-volume production method for moulded polymer bipolar plates simplifies processing and cut manufacturing costs
Southampton startup Bac2 is demonstrating moulded bipolar plates for fuel cell stacks that are made using its patented ElectroPhen electrically conductive polymer. The process reduces the cost of fuel cells because they can be moulded for high volume production and is economical to tool-up and mould relatively small quantities of plates, sometimes just a few hundred.
The unique mould-flow approach means that the plates also do not need post-processing, such as surface machining or drilling, after moulding, further reducing costs and cutting waste.
The ElectroPhen bipolar plates are available for many different types of fuel cell stacks, from high-temperature and low-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM), direct methanol, alkali and phosphoric acid designs. Unlike those made from metal, the plates are chemically inert, do not corrode, will not poison fuel cell electrodes and are rugged enough to withstand the harshest environments. They are made using a simple,
2-stage, mix-and-mould manufacturing process.
In addition to moulded plates, Bac2 supplies blank plates that can be easily machined for fuel cell development work. Blank plates are available from stock.
Related articles
- Fuel Cell Rechargers Finally Here (electronics-lab.com)
- Hyundai Debuts Tucson ix Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (blogs.edmunds.com)
- PowerTrekk fuel cell charger allows for power on the go (gizmag.com)
- PowerTrekk: A Hydrogen Fuel Cell Gadget Charger (slashgear.com)
- Fuel cell company Bing Energy sets up HQ in Florida; partnership with FSU (greencarcongress.com)
- Pilus Energy and Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies to combine bioreactors with fuel cells (greencarcongress.com)
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