I am creating this blog to document the building of my first full-scale unmanned aerial system. As an aspiring aerospace engineer, I am seeking a practical, hands-on building experience that surpasses kit-model building and multicopter work that I have done in the past. It is my hope that this project will provide insight into every facet of the engineering process, from inception through a maiden flight. As a project, the K-1 is intended to bridge the gap between my experience in RC model/multicopter building and flying, and my fascination with commercial/military unmanned aerial systems. The K-1 will be a low/medium altitude, low airspeed, and high endurance unmanned aerial system as a prototype for surveillance, security, and surveying (in theory).
To be consistent with the convention of naming aircraft after birds of prey, I am naming this UAV the Kite (all the cooler names [falcon, raptor, etc.] were taken).
So far, I've purchased a 33cc gas motor and associated accessories as well as bulk epoxy (West Systems 105), carbon fiber cloth, CF tubes and sheets.
The wings will be 5.5 ft long each, with a 25% taper on the outer third of each wing and a 2° dihedral angle. They will be 3D printed, covered in carbon fiber/epoxy and supported from the inside by CF tubing. See above.
The K-1's airframe and performance specifications are heavily based on, and inspired by The UAV Factory's Penguin C and UMS Skildar's F-330 UAS, with the following speci
fications:
- Wingspan: 11 ft
- MTOW:30 lbs.~44 lbs. (pending fuel consumption rate calculations)
- Cruise Airspeed: ~20 m/s
- Endurance: (pending fuel consumption rate calculations)
- Takeoff/Recovery: Runway (working on parachute recovery)
- Powerplant: 33cc Gas Engine
(I'm still working on these)
Besides the aforementioned corporations, Gisela and Joe Noci's blog has been quite helpful in determining my airfoil choice (S7075 [as an improvement over the Clark-Y]) and wing construction methodology.
Since it is my first build, the K-1 will be far from optimized, but I've got the whole summer to build the K-2 and K-3. It'll be the proverbial first pancake that is always burnt.
Alex Frye
