Development of a supplemental solar power system for future aircraft

Open Research Positions (Ugrad internship, MEng project, MAsc)

This project at the Aircraft Systems Lab (supervised by Dr. S. Liscouët-Hanke) focuses on exploring the technical challenges of developing a supplemental solar power system for future aircraft, including experimental work on a remote-control flying demonstrator, building a prototype for solar cell integration in an aircraft wing and the development of a sizing and simulation models. We are looking for students at various levels (undergraduate and masters) who wish to contribute to this research project, potentially including industrial collaborations. The work should start in Summer 2025.

Context

Reducing the environmental footprint is a key objective for the aerospace industry. Carbon-neutral growth can only be achieved by investing in breakthrough technology development to reduce emissions. An increasing interest in photovoltaics can be observed in aeronautics, either to increase the endurance of Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) or for solar-powered flights for technology demonstration purposes, such as the Solar Impulse aircraft. With the recent trend of investing in technology development for hybrid-electric and all-electric aircraft, photovoltaics might also have their place as a supplemental power system. With today's solar cell efficiency of around 25%, enough power can be generated from wing-mounted or fuselage-mounted solar panels to operate an autonomous air-conditioning system on the ground, to extend the range of aircraft with electric propulsion or supplement a hybrid-propulsion system.

Conceptual design tools have been developed in the Aircraft Systems Lab [1,2], to explore the potential applications for aircraft, i.e. air taxi operations [3] or hybrid-electric aircraft [4]. We plan to progress this concept through various research axes, experimentally and theoretically and are in discussion with several industry partners to mature the technology and concept.

Objectives

We plan to progress on several research axes, experimentally and theoretically.

·       Axes 1: Building of a solar cell integration prototype (for a wing or fuselage section) in collaboration with CAPsolar (prototyping, hands-on)

·       Axes 2: Development of a digital twin of our solar research aircraft (Matlab or AMESim)

·       Axes 3: Improving our  conceptual sizing code for SPS (Pyhton, GitHub, user interface)

·       Axes 4: support and conduct case studies for new applications (i.e, airships and electric trainer aircraft)

Qualifications & Skills

·       Motivation for research, self-starter, autonomy, creative problem solver

·       Aerospace design background

·       Particular skills as listed in the research axes (prototyping, programming,…)

As part of the project, the student is expected to participate in regular project reviews with the partners and to prepare required documentation (deliverables, project presentation, tool documentation and user guide).

How to apply

Qualified and highly motivated candidates are invited to send their application via email to susan.liscouet-hanke@concordia.ca using the subject " Research Positions - Solar Aircraft" with the following elements:

• Email with your motivation and relevant experience

• Complete and up-to-date CV

• Up-to-date transcript

Relevant references

[1]        Liscouët-Hanke, S., Shafiei, A., Lopes, L., and Williamson, S., “Proof-of-Concept Analysis of a Supplemental Solar Power System for Aircraft,” Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 90, No. 8, 2018, pp. 1295–1304. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEAT-08-2017-0189

[2]        Liscouët-Hanke, S., and Murugesan, E. S., “Conceptual Design Framework for an Aircraft Auxiliary Photovoltaic System,” presented at the AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference, Atlanta, USA, 2018. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2018-4137

[3]        Liscouët-Hanke, S., Mir, M., and Bashir, M., “Exploration of Solar Power System Integration for Sustainable Air Transportation—A Case Study for Seaplane Air Taxi Operations,” Aerospace, Vol. 12, No. 3, 2025, p. 164. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace12030164

[4]        Licheva, G., Mohan, V., Jeyaraj, A. K., Bamrah, P., Mir, M., and Liscouet-Hanke, S., “System Integration Study for a Hybrid-Electric Commuter Aircraft Concept with a Solar Auxiliary Power System,” presented at the AIAA SCITECH 2024 Forum, Orlando, FL, 2024. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2024-1538