Simon Howroyd
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  • Loughborough
  • United Kingdom
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Simon Howroyd's Discussions

GoPro HD Hero 3

Started this discussion. Last reply by Simon Howroyd Apr 30. 3 Replies

Hi all,Has anybody managed to use the new GoPro 3 for onboard real-time video?Regards,SimonContinue

Tags: gopro

Two motors, one prop

Started Mar 12 0 Replies

Hi all,Does anyone know of a gearbox which allows two motors to power one output shaft? Looking around the 1kW mark total power of the motors.SimonContinue

APM2.5 and XBee not working

Started this discussion. Last reply by Bill Bonney Jan 18. 12 Replies

Hi all,For some reason I just cannot get any data from my APM2.5 via xbee. Never had any troubles with APM2.I am connected to the "new wireless port" on APM2.5 via a…Continue

Tags: Explorer, UartSBee, APM2.5, Zigbee, XBee

Fuel Cells in Unmanned Aircraft

Started this discussion. Last reply by Simon Howroyd Jun 16, 2012. 13 Replies

Hi all,Just thought I should raise a bit of awareness into the research being conducted at Loughborugh University here in the UK!I'm in the early stages of a 4yr project implementing both PEM and…Continue

Tags: loughborough, university, apm2, hydrogen, Cell

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Hydrogen Fuel Cell UAV

Posted on April 23, 2013 at 12:30pm 14 Comments

A hydrogen fuel cell is a device that converts hydrogen gas & air into electricity and water. Although these devices are much lower power density than batteries, they can pump out that power for many hours, depending on the amount of fuel you are storing.

At Loughborough University UK, we are working on a fuel cell and LiPo…

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Fuel Cells in Unmanned Aircraft

This project is researching and developing, the implementation of a hydrogen fuel cell into a small autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle.

The aircraft will be a development platform for the integration of a Horizon 100W hydrogen fuel cell, along with the development of eco power management to increase endurance.
Using ArduPilot Mega 2.5 and a RaspberryPi with WiFi dongle, flight and power data can be obtained and transmitted in real time to a laptop, over a network or the internet.  The system can also accommodate a webcam (to be upgraded to a GoPro 3) and stream all this data on a user friendly webpage.
Try the first link below for my YouTube channel, the second link for the code:

Latest Challenges

Overweight testing of the X8 has begun. A few modifications include a larger prop 16x8" folding and fiberglass tape on the lower wing. Flying at 5.6kg very well, next stage to push towards 6kg!
Calculations on wing loading done by Robert of NuvAero Flight Systems give promising leads to the capabilities of the X8:
X8 has 80 sq. dm of wing area. Lets compare it to the popular Gatewing X100 which is 23 sq. dm. Gatewing is 4.4lbs so has a wing loading of 31.5 oz/sq. ft. Cruises around 75km/hr and reported stall speed of 45 km/hr.

Our X8 at 8.5lbs has a wing loading of 15.8 oz/sq. ft. At 9.9 lbs it would be 18.5 oz/sq. ft. In fact our X8 would need to weigh 16.8 lbs to have the same wing loading as the Gatewing.

I'd say that at 8.5lbs it flys great. Could easily handle a couple extra pounds as far as flight characteristics go. Would consider proper carbon fibre wing spars and maybe some fiberglass packing tape first.
Watch this space for results!

I am also in need of peoples flight data; I need current, voltage and throttle for any flights you do, which I can include in my PhD research. Inbox me if you can help!

Any advice, experience or ideas please let me know!

News

The X8 has successfully flown at 5.6kg. It flew well, however upon landing (on long grass) the main spar snapped. I have fitted a new spar and have also fitted plywood plates in the wing root (there is already a recess in the X8's design for this).
I have also made good progress on the code for the fuel cell controller, which is available on github. I'm also using MAVProxy to save all the flight data onboard and transmit it to the ground over WiFi at the same time.

Older News

The X8 has successfully flown at 4kg, rocketing into the sky with no issues. I have also now finished t

he fist prototype of my hybrid power setup, which will eventually see the raspPi take over from the Horizon controller to manage the whole system. And, of course, the various components will be condensed onto a single breakout board rather than wires & bits everywhere!

All suggestions for improvements welcome!

Older Older News

In order to take such a high weight I have beefed up the structure using fiberglass tape. I am also running a 4Ah 7s LiPo with 1800W motor (needs to be a high voltage for fuel cell integration). Currently I am running a smaller 12x7" prop which stalls if much above 50% throttle, stopping torque roll completely. I will up the prop as I increase the weight.

The X8 has now flown! Cruising around on 20% throttle on the first flight. I shall be doing some more flights (weather permitting) and collecting some data & video.
All-in-all this is a very impressive aircraft, currently weighing in at 2.72kg including about 500g of ballast.
I've also got the raspberry pi transmitting a nice HD webcam with low latency (~0.25s) and about 15fps!

I have successfully moved from using XBee to connect our vehicles together and to the ground, and have replaced them with a WiFi network.  It could be set up as an ad-hoc network, but for development I am using a standard home router to host a wireless-g network, which my laptop with mission planner connects to, as do our vehicles, at the full 54Mbps (less errors than 100Mbps).  This is 100x faster than the XBee's, and in testing has proved to have a better range and signal quality.  Below is an image showing the new setup, and how "plug-and-play" it is.  I have no experience of networking but this was very easy to set up in 30mins.

Much Older News

I have now received ArduPilot Mega 2.0 (APM2), a full autopilot suite for model aircraft.  This has a 6DOF accelerometer/gyro MEMS sensor, static and dynamic pressure, GNSS (GPS) and a magnetometer (compass).  Is can be used in pass through mode (manual control), fly-by-wire for automatic stabilisation and autonomous for waypoint following.  It has 2.4GHz telemetry to communicate with ground station software on my laptop, where missions can be updated in flight!
This has now had three flights, all successful!  It is heavy, requiring 60-70% throttle to cruise in wind.  I have tuned the low level stabilisation gains allowing for carefree handling.  Airspeed hold is proving to be more difficult for FBW-B mode, so when the weather perks up I will go straight for autonomous circuits with me commanding throttle!

 

 

Profile Information

About Me:
Love flying fixed wing aircraft, primarily electric but I was taught on glow.
Tell us a bit about your UAV interest
Researcher
Autonomous Systems Specialist
Hydrogen Fuel Cells in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Hometown:
Loughborough

Comment Wall (5 comments)

At 11:59am on March 20, 2013, Tommy Larsen said…

Hi

What is your X8 weight before you put the batteries in ? 

At 1:03pm on March 20, 2013, Simon Howroyd said…

The operating weight empty, everything except batteries, is 2.3kg. The rest is made up of a 4Ah 7s Hyperion 25c LiPo (~350g ish I think) and a load of dummy weight.

My goal is to put an expensive fuel cell, so at the moment I'm testing it with buts of junk inside to simulate the weight.

At 2:18pm on March 20, 2013, Tommy Larsen said…

Ok :)

I have been looking into FC myself. I have seen the H-100 and also this one :

http://www.pragma-industries.com/products/fuel-cells/fuel-cell-systems/?gclid=CIDwkPmwgbYCFSx7cAod9SoAjg

At 2:41pm on March 20, 2013, Simon Howroyd said…

Ah cool. I'm using the horizon h100...because that's what I was given lol.

At 1:45am on April 3, 2013, Tommy Larsen said…

Hi Simon

How is your overweight testing at 6kg going ? :-)

Tommy

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Latest Activity

Simon Howroyd posted a photo
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LU-X8SI

X8 platform for a fuel cell testbed UAV
yesterday
0 Comments
Simon Howroyd commented on Tommy Larsen's blog post Skywalker X8 hand injury
"I don't see a problem with hand launch more than any other aircraft. Can't do a discus launch though like you can a stryker, far too heavy and not enough strength in the wings. Get the prop pitch fine enough, have the prop turning at min…"
Jun 12
Simon Howroyd commented on Tommy Larsen's blog post Skywalker X8 hand injury
"Hope you're ok mate. I've been flying the X8 now, and have been all the way up to an 18" prop at 5.6kg, no problems. I am now back down to a 16" which I'm happy with but had the first "prop clipping arm" yesterday.…"
Jun 11
Simon Howroyd replied to Alexey Kozin's discussion its realy problem or "chain letter"/fake ? in the group ArduPlane User Group
"If the problem is with the airspeed sensor...an analogue device only using 10mA, then how is changing the fuse going to sort it? Surely dodgy analogue readings are down to fluctuating voltage. This would be caused by the diode not the fuse?"
Jun 4
 
 
 

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