Optimal climb performance of electric aircraft for minimal charge consumption

Resumo

© 2020 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA. All rights reserved.Electric propulsion has become a subject of great interest in the aeronautical community. The present work focuses on the optimal climb performance of such aircraft, in the sense of minimizing the electric charge consumed. This analysis is relevant, since this flight phase is very energy consuming and demanding on the propulsion system. A cost function – the electric charge consumed – is derived in parametric form, with both aircraft and motor parameters. Analytical expressions for the optimal lift coefficient, throttle, velocity and electric charge are derived as solutions for a static optimal control problem. The solutions are also presented in parametric form, being useful for applications in conceptual design and performance analysis. This is supplemented by simulations in order to provide a quantitative insight to the problem.