Design and analysis of an Integrated Electric Mobility Flight Vehicle of the future

• Main Author: Wee, Marco Johann
• Other Authors: Pang Hock Lye, John
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
• Subjects: Engineering::Mechanical engineering::Machine design and construction; Engineering::Aeronautical engineering::Aircraft
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/139258
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Since the industrial revolution, climate change has become more apparent. Over the past few decades, increased industrial activities and widespread burning of fossil fuels have released more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The CO2 levels in the atmosphere have been increasing exponentially, causing a rise in global temperatures due to an enhanced greenhouse effect. This has led to the acceleration of ice melting at the poles, leading to a global sea level rise of 3.3mm per year. Other effects of climate change include increased sea level anomalies leading to higher storm surges. This coupled with the effects of sea level rise and astronomical tide may lead to future inundation of lands in low lying urban cities like Singapore. A framework of concern encompassing inundated lands within an urban landscape was defined and illustrated based on flood mapping for a worst-case scenario. It poses a unique challenge to urban mobility. Inundated lands may lead to traffic disruption and restriction to building ground access. This, coupled with the high density of urban infrastructure, requires a specific solution to tackle. Current solutions for personal aerial vehicles have proven to be too bulky for widespread urban use. Safety concerns such as propellers may pose a danger especially in crowded places. Moreover, many of these vehicles are not able to traverse across water or roads. Hence, this project aims to explore the idea of Integrated Mobility Flight Vehicles, or IMFVs. An IMFV is a flight-based vehicle that incorporates features to adapt to a certain framework of concern. The framework of concern here is a dense urban landscape emulating Singapore with plots of shallow inundated land. Several vehicle patents were studied for design inspiration. A study on PAV specifications was done to observe design trends and a SWOT analysis was conducted on an amphibious PAV. Several air, land, and water movement technologies were also explored for mechanism concepts. Design requirements were drafted from the considerations of PAV design, commuter needs, and framework of concern. Several IMFV concepts such as TRI-V, TEAR Concept, and Holonomic Aerial Vehicle were designed. They feature compact amphibious designs that can transition between air, land, and water and are adaptable to the framework of concern. A fluid flow analysis conducted on a netted wheel found a 3% loss of thrust due to obstruction of airflow by the netted pattern. This was concluded to be feasible. The highly conceptual designs were discussed to be not entirely feasible with current technology, but possible with future technology and design developments. Lastly, potential future works were discussed to further research on IMFV concepts.