Thermal study of a SOFC system integration in a fuselage of a hybrid electric mini UAV

In this paper, the integration of small SOFC commercial system into the fuselage of a mini designed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is carried out from an experimental and computational point of view. As a design constrain, the SOFC generator has to be installed inside the UAV fuselage with the lowest possible offset (about 20 mm all around the generator) to reduce the volume and mass of the UAV. SOFC systems operate at high temperature in the range of 800 - 1000 °C Even whether a good insulation of the system is designed, the external temperature is always about few hundred Celsius degrees. Due to high external surface temperature malfunctioning of the electronics devices connected to the generator and hot spots on the fuselage shell can occur. For this reason, it is important to ensure a proper ventilation of the air volume inside the UAV fuselage. To deal with these issues, experimental and Computational Fluid dynamic studies were carried out to evaluate the temperature distribution inside the UAV fuselage. Different air intake configurations and design are investigated and advices concerning a correct SOFC system integration inside the UAV fuselage are also provided.