Design and Modeling of a High-Peak-Power Distributed Electric Propulsion System for a Super-STOL UAV

Electric short takeoff and landing (eSTOL) aircraft utilize the slipstream generated by distributed propellers to significantly increase the effective lift coefficient and reduce the takeoff and landing distances. By utilizing the blown lift, eSTOL UAVs can achieve similar takeoff and landing site requirements as electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) UAVs, while having lower takeoff and landing energy consumption and thrust requirements. This research proposes a high-peak-power distributed electric propulsion (DEP) system model and overload design method for eSTOL UAVs to further improve the power and thrust of the propulsion system. The model considers motor temperature factors with the throttle input, which is solved through three-round iterative calculations. The experimental and simulation results indicate that the maximum error of the high-peak-power propulsion unit model without considering temperature is 19.52%, and the maximum error when considering temperature is 1.2%. The propulsion unit ground test indicates that the main factors affecting peak power are the duration of peak power and the temperature limit of the motor. Finally, the effectiveness of the propulsion system model is verified through ground tests and UAV flight tests.