3 ms·
Why the quad set up over the classic single rotor seen in helicopters?
by seasonalallergy 6y ago
Why the quad set up over the classic single rotor seen in helicopters?
- jlcortex 6y agoA hybrid drone like HYBRiX has power redundancy. If the engine stops for some reason, it still has some minutes of endurance in electric-only mode, for an emergency landing. With an unmanned helicopter, if the engine fails, the crash is mostly warranted, even with the autorotation function. Besides, the mechanics are simpler and therefore more reliable. And the propellers are smaller than a helicopter rotor, which is safer. Multirotors are also much simpler to operate than a helicopter. Most industrial customers do not want to operate unmanned helicopters because of their complexity.
- bri3d 6y agoMechanical complexity. A collective pitch helicopter requires a bunch of expensive moving parts and linkages to run the swash plate. The most traditional design requires 3 relatively powerful linear actuators of some sort as well as a spherical bearing at the swash plate, then 2 linkages to the rotor head and 2 more bearings on the rotor head itself. A quadcopter requires brushless motors (usually with 2-3 typical sealed ball bearings each) and props. Less moving parts, broadly generalizing, means fewer ways to fail.