Back, with more frequency of posts!
Long story short, i'm back with more frequent posts.
I decided at the beginning of the summer that if I couldnt find an internship, I would work as hard as I could in order to gain more experience. This way, I could also get a head start on my science fair project. So far, I still don't know how I will word it, or how I will present it, but here is what I have so far. I'm designing two aircraft to support in the duties of people like firemen, and policemen, maybe even EMT's.
One is a larger aircraft, designed to take air at the same time, or before the service men take road. It currently has a wing span of 80~ inches, an estimated flight time of 50 minutes, and a flight range (one way) of 25 miles. The range is probably better than expected, since I calculated the data using a cruise speed of 30 mph. I also occasionally cut the throttle (this thing glides beautifully), and that might increase the range, but for now the range is pretty short, and needs to be improved. I could also increase the aspect ratio by decreasing the wing chord, which would decrease lift induced drag. The whole point of keeping a low sweep is to increase the aspect ratio, which is generally low in flying wings. I've also been advised to change my current airfoil (NACA 0009) to a better one (NACA 23009), which i will try once i can get a CNC machine in my hands. Here's a picture of the model.
The second one is a more mobile aircraft, with a wingspan of 800 mm. It was planned to be a VTOL, but right now all I can say is that it was destined to fly forwards. This thing was amazing from the start. Thanks to the XFLR5 software, I was able to nail it down in one single try. I took it out, threw it, trimmed it a tiny bit and it was nothing short of amazing. I have one aspect i could improve on right now, and that is probably the elevons. They should be thinner at the roots of the wing, and wider at the tips. I am experiencing problems, like tip stalling at points which should not be happening, but i think that they are due to my vertical stabilizers being a bit loose. I strapped on an fpv system and flew it around, getting 15 minutes of flight time with a 1300 mAh battery, and around 40 mph top speed. It's a small video, and honestly you can barely see the aircraft, but it's better than nothing. Most of these fly by's were with half throttle. At the last clip, I thought I was going to run into something. It showed great control, and i was able to bank left/right without any stalling issues, or slowing the craft down too much.
All in all, I don't know what to make of this wing. I want to keep the same dimensions, and have the same forward flight performance, but VTOL is so attractive. Who knows, maybe i'll move the vtol aspect to the larger aircraft, but I do want to install a VTOL system on a smaller aircraft to improve mobility.. Who knows, maybe both will be VTOL's. Here are some more pics of the smaller model.
One is a larger aircraft, designed to take air at the same time, or before the service men take road. It currently has a wing span of 80~ inches, an estimated flight time of 50 minutes, and a flight range (one way) of 25 miles. The range is probably better than expected, since I calculated the data using a cruise speed of 30 mph. I also occasionally cut the throttle (this thing glides beautifully), and that might increase the range, but for now the range is pretty short, and needs to be improved. I could also increase the aspect ratio by decreasing the wing chord, which would decrease lift induced drag. The whole point of keeping a low sweep is to increase the aspect ratio, which is generally low in flying wings. I've also been advised to change my current airfoil (NACA 0009) to a better one (NACA 23009), which i will try once i can get a CNC machine in my hands. Here's a picture of the model.
The second one is a more mobile aircraft, with a wingspan of 800 mm. It was planned to be a VTOL, but right now all I can say is that it was destined to fly forwards. This thing was amazing from the start. Thanks to the XFLR5 software, I was able to nail it down in one single try. I took it out, threw it, trimmed it a tiny bit and it was nothing short of amazing. I have one aspect i could improve on right now, and that is probably the elevons. They should be thinner at the roots of the wing, and wider at the tips. I am experiencing problems, like tip stalling at points which should not be happening, but i think that they are due to my vertical stabilizers being a bit loose. I strapped on an fpv system and flew it around, getting 15 minutes of flight time with a 1300 mAh battery, and around 40 mph top speed. It's a small video, and honestly you can barely see the aircraft, but it's better than nothing. Most of these fly by's were with half throttle. At the last clip, I thought I was going to run into something. It showed great control, and i was able to bank left/right without any stalling issues, or slowing the craft down too much.
All in all, I don't know what to make of this wing. I want to keep the same dimensions, and have the same forward flight performance, but VTOL is so attractive. Who knows, maybe i'll move the vtol aspect to the larger aircraft, but I do want to install a VTOL system on a smaller aircraft to improve mobility.. Who knows, maybe both will be VTOL's. Here are some more pics of the smaller model.
The least I can say is, I am very excited for this year.
Comments
Post a Comment