IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v631y2024i8021d10.1038_s41586-024-07609-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sunlight-powered sustained flight of an ultralight micro aerial vehicle

Author

Listed:
  • Wei Shen

    (Beihang University)

  • Jinzhe Peng

    (Beihang University)

  • Rui Ma

    (Beihang University)

  • Jiaqing Wu

    (Beihang University)

  • Jingyi Li

    (Beihang University)

  • Zhiwei Liu

    (Beihang University
    Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Aero-Engine
    National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Aero-Engine Aero-Thermodynamics
    Beijing Key Laboratory of Aero-Engine Structure and Strength)

  • Jiaming Leng

    (Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Aero-Engine)

  • Xiaojun Yan

    (Beihang University
    Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Aero-Engine
    National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Aero-Engine Aero-Thermodynamics
    Beijing Key Laboratory of Aero-Engine Structure and Strength)

  • Mingjing Qi

    (Beihang University
    Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Aero-Engine
    National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Aero-Engine Aero-Thermodynamics
    Beijing Key Laboratory of Aero-Engine Structure and Strength)

Abstract

Limited flight duration is a considerable obstacle to the widespread application of micro aerial vehicles (MAVs)1–3, especially for ultralightweight MAVs weighing less than 10 g, which, in general, have a flight endurance of no more than 10 min (refs. 1,4). Sunlight power5–7 is a potential alternative to improve the endurance of ultralight MAVs, but owing to the restricted payload capacity of the vehicle and low lift-to-power efficiency of traditional propulsion systems, previous studies have not achieved untethered sustained flight of MAVs fully powered by natural sunlight8,9. Here, to address these challenges, we introduce the CoulombFly, an electrostatic flyer consisting of an electrostatic-driven propulsion system with a high lift-to-power efficiency of 30.7 g W−1 and an ultralight kilovolt power system with a low power consumption of 0.568 W, to realize solar-powered sustained flight of an MAV under natural sunlight conditions (920 W m−2). The vehicle’s total mass is only 4.21 g, within 1/600 of the existing lightest sunlight-powered aerial vehicle6.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei Shen & Jinzhe Peng & Rui Ma & Jiaqing Wu & Jingyi Li & Zhiwei Liu & Jiaming Leng & Xiaojun Yan & Mingjing Qi, 2024. "Sunlight-powered sustained flight of an ultralight micro aerial vehicle," Nature, Nature, vol. 631(8021), pages 537-543, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:631:y:2024:i:8021:d:10.1038_s41586-024-07609-4
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07609-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07609-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41586-024-07609-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:631:y:2024:i:8021:d:10.1038_s41586-024-07609-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.