High-altitude airship propulsion system optimal design and experiment based on energy balance

This paper proposes a propulsion optimization method with the surrogate modeling technique based on the coupling relationship between the propulsion and energy subsystem to achieve high-altitude airship weight reduction and figure out key factors. Propeller and motor surrogate models were constructed based on an inhouse fluid-structure solver and validated by the wind tunnel experiment. Solar intensity variation, solar cell distribution, and energy balance were modeled for the calculation of energy system weight. By minimizing the total weight of propulsion end energy subsystem as the goal and energy balance as the constraint, an optimization architecture was built. And a typical high-altitude airship is optimized as an example. Propulsion design variables were analyzed to figure out the influence on the airship’s overall performance. The results show that introducing energy balance into propulsion system optimal design can effectively reduce the total weight of the propulsion and energy system.