Drone-integrated PV: potential and demonstration

With both PV and drones becoming more and more ubiquitous, there is a growing interest in investigating the  potential of PV towards powering drones, to increase their range and autonomy, even towards extended automated missions.

In this thesis, a first topic is to assess the potential, taking into account different types of UAVs (e.g. quad-copter to fixed-wing) and applications (e.g. transport and surveillance) and resolve what surface area could be used for PV and how much it could then contribute to the power supply. In a second phase, after having determined suitable surfaces on a defined UAV, a system can be designed, including mechanical aspects (size, curvature, weight) as well as electrical (current and voltage ranges). With the knowledge and equipment for fabricating and testing light-weight PV panels available in the lab, these can then be manufactured to demonstrate the potential. Combining all elements, a UAV may be modified and/or assembled as final proof-of-concept and outcome of the thesis.

From the above description, it should be clear that the topic is strongly experimentally-oriented and requires a hands-on mentality with a lot of time spent in the lab. Considering the diversity of topics involved, the topic can be tuned somewhat depending on the background and interest of the applicant.

This work will be carried out in the new facilities in the Energyville campus in Genk with manufacturing equipment that goes beyond state-of-the-art in module production (in a lab environment) and is geared towards these technologies.in terms of interconnection and encapsulation. No less indispensable is the access to in-house knowledge, as well as the availability of characterization equipment and expertise (similarly state-of-the-art and beyond) to adequately assess individual and combined process steps, ranging from material characterization and analysis to full module performance measurements and reliability testing.