A multirotor flight is very critical: if it happens an ESC, motor, propeller, RX failure or even if you get a lot of vibrations in the flight controller, the multirotor will crash. That's why I created a parachute and attached it to the quadcopter. This was the first test I've done with a parachute for quadcopter:
It had a stick so it kept the parachute away from the propellers. The problem is that the CG is difficult to keep in the center of the quadcopter and also because if the quadcopter hits the stick on the ground when it lands it's going to break the stick.
Therefore, I positioned the parachute on the back of the quadcopter without a stick. I've done a "wind tunnel" test (lol ;D) to check if the parachute would open:
As you can see, it seems to work, so I tried it in field:
Although it didn't land well, nothing was broken because the quadcopter arms are foldable and the ground was soft (grass).
The parachute is activated with a receiver channel and a servo. So when I get in trouble I press a button in my transmitter and it will release the parachute.
Currently i'm projecting a parachute launcher with springs, so it will be launch vertically and thus it will open faster. Another option would be using a small rocket/gunpowder to pull the parachute, but i'm still thinking on the positioning to avoid unwanted burn to the parachute and the multirotor
Cheers!
Comments
That´s a good idea Pableras, but my main problem is where can i get an adequate spring =/
No Henri, i still have not tried the mechanism
Cheers
RawLiquid
Jan, i've bought a confetti cannon but it's very difficult to turn the bottom and let the air flow. Moreover it's a little bit heavy because it's made of metal.
Ken, that's also a very nice idea! We could limit the range of the trap: 0 to 90 degrees for example
That looks very good, Randy. The question will be how it performs when the quad is spiraling :)
Thanks for the drawing Randy ;) now i get it. We have to test to check it it can launch the parachute high enough, far from the propellers
@bernardo,
I'm afraid that I also don't know how I'll be launching it. The "springy arm" is only a concept at this point. I gather from some of the comments above that you might be able to attach 1 (or maybe 4) springy poles to the arms of your quad and some how use a servo to make them spring up and launch the parachute into the air above. Below is a concept drawing.
That's interesting esteban ;) i'm thinking about using a needle or something sharp
Randy, that's a nice parachute! How will you do to launch it? Do you know where I can get more info about the "springy arm"?
It's hard to see the scale from my picture above. it's 14cm x 14cm x 3cm (5.5 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches).
I've just received this parachute from opale-paramodels although there are other cheaper options out there like this one. I can modify the arducopter code to do something smart like monitor the desired attitude vs actual and move a servo when they become to far apart for too long (and also cut the motors) but like many others here it's the physical deployment that I'm unsure about. This seems to have a very long drawstring attached to it. I guess the idea is that I somehow wrap the black part around the copter and then somehow push the whole red bad and parachute off the copter. I guess the springy arm idea proposed above is the way to go. It's all looking a little more difficult than I was hoping.
-
1
-
2
-
3
of 3 Next