3 ms·
The annular wing is an interesting touch. It should reduce induced drag at the low Reynolds numbers these drones typically fly at, by eliminating the wingtip v
by chroem- 7y ago
The annular wing is an interesting touch. It should reduce induced drag at the low Reynolds numbers these drones typically fly at, by eliminating the wingtip vortices. I was working on a very similar design for a while, and I placed the props at the wingtips to cancel the vortices instead.
Also it would be interesting to see what their power electronics look like. You get a 20x reduction in thrust demands by going from hover to flight mode, but the problem is that the efficiency of brushless motors also tends to be absolutely dreadful when you run them at 5% throttle.
- honopu 7y agowould it be possible to have 3 of each motor.. the one at low and the one at high.. it seems like in theory you could run all 6 to take off, but let them coast when "flying" versus gaining altitude?
- mveety 7y agoThat's absolutely doable, though you would have to prevent the inactive props from spinning and/or feather them to reduce drag. I don't really see variable pitch props on these though, the weight and complexity penalty would probably be excessive.