The Overview for Development of Korea Electric Unmanned Helicopter (K-EUH) with MTOW 125 kg

Abstract

The development program of the first Korea Electric Unmanned Helicopter (K-EUH) with maximum take-off weight (MTOW) 125 kg, payload 20 kg, flight distance 60 km and flight time 30 min was initiated in 2019 to prepare future eco-environmental VTOL vehicle for urban parcel delivery service and urban air mobility service as a part of national UAM and drone service market promotion in Korea. For this K-EUH program, KARI selected the baseline of unmanned helicopter named as SD-110 helicopter with MTOW 110 kg and gasoline engine. KARI had studied the existing electric helicopter development examples, electric motor for drone and battery system for electric vehicle. In this paper, the general overview for development of Korea electric unmanned helicopter with MTOW 125 kg was described. The main development activities such as design, analysis, fabrication and test were explained in detail. Finally, the flight demonstration was introduced. In this project, KARI have developed key technologies of electric unmanned helicopter such as battery management system, power management system and electric unmanned helicopter vehicle.