Systems and methods for estimating net solar energy production for airborne photovoltaic systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9806528-B2
Application number	US-201414160905-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 22, 2014
Priority date	Jan 22, 2014
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

A method for predicting electrical energy production of a photovoltaic system included in at least one aircraft is described. The method includes determining a first predicted amount of solar irradiance for each of a plurality of geographical points, determining a second predicted amount of solar irradiance received by the at least one aircraft along a flight path of the at least one aircraft, wherein the flight path includes a subset of the plurality of geographical points, and wherein the second predicted amount is based at least in part on the first predicted amount, and determining a predicted amount of electrical energy produced by the photovoltaic system along the flight path, based at least in part on the second predicted amount.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for predicting electrical energy production of a photovoltaic system included in at least one aircraft, said method comprising:
determining a first predicted amount of solar irradiance for each of a plurality of geographical points;
generating an intensity plot of solar irradiance for each of the plurality of geographical points, including the first predicted amount of solar irradiance for each of the plurality of geographical points;
generating an intensity map of solar irradiance for a geographic area comprising the plurality of geographic points and based on the plurality of intensity plots;
generating an animation of the solar irradiance over a flight path based on the plurality of intensity plots for the plurality of geographical points and the intensity map;
determining a second predicted amount of solar irradiance received by the at least one aircraft along the flight path of the at least one aircraft, wherein the flight path includes a subset of the plurality of geographical points, and wherein the second predicted amount is based at least in part on the first predicted amount; and
determining a predicted amount of electrical energy produced by the photovoltaic system along the flight path, based at least in part on the second predicted amount.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating an animation further comprises generating an animation of the solar irradiance over the Earth from a beginning time associated with the flight path to an ending time associated with the flight path based on the plurality of intensity plots for the plurality of geographical points.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the second predicted amount further comprises determining the second predicted amount based at least in part on a total surface area of the photovoltaic system.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the predicted amount of electrical energy further comprises determining the predicted amount of electrical energy based at least in part on a system efficiency of the photovoltaic system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the second predicted amount further comprises determining the second predicted amount based at least in part on a model of the at least one aircraft, wherein the model defines at least one of surface angles and surface areas.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the second predicted amount further comprises determining the second predicted amount based at least in part on a model of the at least one aircraft, wherein the model defines at least one of a cruise speed, a cruise altitude, and a takeoff speed.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the flight path of the at least one aircraft based at least in part on starting coordinates, ending coordinates, a departure time, a mean taxi time, and a mean gate time.

8. A computing device for predicting electrical energy production of a photovoltaic system included in an aircraft, said computing device configured to:
determine a first predicted amount of solar irradiance for each of a plurality of geographical points;
generate an intensity plot of solar irradiance for each of the plurality of geographical points, including the first predicted amount of solar irradiance for each of the plurality of geographical points;
generate an intensity map of solar irradiance for a geographic area comprising the plurality of geographic points and based on the plurality of intensity plots;
generate an animation of the solar irradiance over a flight path based on the plurality of intensity plots for the plurality of geographical points and the intensity map;
determine a second predicted amount of solar irradiance received by the aircraft along the flight path of the aircraft, wherein the flight path includes a subset of the plurality of geographical points, and wherein the second predicted amount is based at least in part on the first predicted amount; and
determine a predicted amount of electrical energy produced by the photovoltaic system along the flight path, based at least in part on the second predicted amount.

9. The computing device of claim 8 , further configured to generate an animation of the solar irradiance over the Earth from a beginning time associated with the flight path to an ending time associated with the flight path based on the plurality of intensity plots for the plurality of geographical points.

10. The computing device of claim 8 , further configured such that determining the second predicted amount further comprises determining the second predicted amount based at least in part on a total surface area of the photovoltaic system.

11. The computing device of claim 8 , further configured such that determining the predicted amount of electrical energy further comprises determining the predicted amount of electrical energy based at least in part on a system efficiency of the photovoltaic system.

12. The computing device of claim 8 , further configured such that determining the second predicted amount further comprises determining the second predicted amount based at least in part on a model of the aircraft, wherein the model defines at least one of surface angles and surface areas.

13. The computing device of claim 8 , further configured such that determining the second predicted amount further comprises determining the second predicted amount based at least in part on a model of the aircraft, wherein the model defines at least one of a cruise speed, a cruise altitude, and a takeoff speed.

14. The computing device of claim 8 , further configured to determine the flight path of the aircraft based at least in part on starting coordinates, ending coordinates, a departure time, a mean taxi time, and a mean gate time.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for predicting electrical energy production of a photovoltaic system included in an aircraft, wherein when executed by a computing device having at least one processor, the computer-executable instructions cause the computing device to:
determine a first predicted amount of solar irradiance for each of a plurality of geographical points;
generate an intensity plot of solar irradiance for each of the plurality of geographical points, including the first predicted amount of solar irradiance for each of the plurality of geographical points;
generate an intensity map of solar irradiance for a geographic area comprising the plurality of geographic points and based on the plurality of intensity plots;
generate an animation of the solar irradiance over a flight path based on the plurality of intensity plots for the plurality of geographical points and the intensity map;
determine a second predicted amount of solar irradiance received by the aircraft along the flight path of the aircraft, wherein the flight path includes a subset of the plurality of geographical points, and wherein the second predicted amount is based at least in part on the first predicted amount; and
determine a predicted amount of electrical energy produced by the photovoltaic system along the flight path, based at least in part on the second predicted amount.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein said computer-executable instructions further cause the computing device to generate an animation of the solar irradiance over the Earth from a beginning time associated with the flight path to an ending time associated with the flight path based on the plurality of intensity plots for the plurality of geographical po

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Ferrer Alberto

Classifications

• H02J3/003

  Load forecast, e.g. methods or systems for forecasting future load demand · CPC title

• H02J13/00

  Circuit arrangements for providing remote monitoring or remote control of equipment in a power distribution network · CPC title

• G06Q50/06 Primary

  Energy or water supply · CPC title

• H02J3/383 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02J2003/003

  Electricity · mapped topic