if you took away the whole in the outer skin you could probaby and used thin flim solar cell for the skin itself yeah you could get a little more flight time.
@ chris
this is ment to act as a hybrid between a helicopter and a plane, there isn't any normal wings ( tho the body would act as a wing anyway.) because they get in the way in vtol. thisdesign is also very simple and can be used indoors because it acts like a ducted fan.
in the end tho its about what you want form you air frame, for long tirm hover but low speed a helocopter is best, for high speed a but less ability in hover you go with the more normal plane look.this and other desgins like it are or the in between jobs.
Not enough surface area to make solar interesting.
But I too am confused about what the advantage of such a design is over a VTOL aircraft, which could save a lot of energy in forward flight. Basically this is just like a 3D foamie, without the wings. Why not just add the wings?
Going back to Gary's comment... No flying body, no fixed wings, I wonder what could be done to enhance the endurance on the thing?
And a total silly noob question: What would be the gain, if any, if it had some sort of solar power system built in?
Would the mechanism for the solar panel etc just be too much weight for negligible gain? I imagine so... but really have no idea.
It's a single propeller on top with 4 flaps on the bottom. Pretty limited payload & too top heavy to land. Surprised no-one has thought of using 3 flaps by now.
Comments
I was expecting napalm in action.
if you took away the whole in the outer skin you could probaby and used thin flim solar cell for the skin itself yeah you could get a little more flight time.
@ chris
this is ment to act as a hybrid between a helicopter and a plane, there isn't any normal wings ( tho the body would act as a wing anyway.) because they get in the way in vtol. thisdesign is also very simple and can be used indoors because it acts like a ducted fan.
in the end tho its about what you want form you air frame, for long tirm hover but low speed a helocopter is best, for high speed a but less ability in hover you go with the more normal plane look.this and other desgins like it are or the in between jobs.
But I too am confused about what the advantage of such a design is over a VTOL aircraft, which could save a lot of energy in forward flight. Basically this is just like a 3D foamie, without the wings. Why not just add the wings?
And a total silly noob question: What would be the gain, if any, if it had some sort of solar power system built in?
Would the mechanism for the solar panel etc just be too much weight for negligible gain? I imagine so... but really have no idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnKsgENx-4k
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