In-flight reconfiguration of lithium-ion cells aimed at extending flight times and range of electrically powered UAVs

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to disclose a novel reconfiguration battery design suitable for electrically powered UAVs. Design/methodology/approach A design of a reconfigurable battery module is presented. Test setup with prototype battery module is developed and described. Test results of measurements are shown and discussed. Findings The results ascertain the benefits of implementing a reconfigurable battery in small electrically powered UAVs and specifically prove the efficiency of the proposed design. Originality/value The proposed novel design is compared to previous work while advances from the latter and the gained advantages were established.