The 'copter


Now we come to proposed improvements in Marcy 1.  Fired up Her avionics & got the radio to work again.  That was a huge step, but there's a long road of depression between this & golf course flight.

Most micro airplanes have a solenoid actuator for the rudder on the fuselage & no aileron actuator.  We need the aileron actuator, which begs the question of how such a large surface can be actuated from the fuselage.  It would be on the fuselage.

Fabricating a traditional actuator without machine tools is quite challenging.  A material stronger than wood, yet bonding to CA glue is needed.  It has the disadvantage of deflecting a large wing surface.

The leading idea is to make the whole wing 1 big actuator.  The repulsion between a NdFeB magnet on the wing & a coil on the fuselage deflects it downward.  Airflow centers it.  This is rugged, light, & uses the full surface.  The same principle could be applied to a lift fan if it was bidirectional.


3689392513?profile=original

 

3689392534?profile=original

 

Next, the actuator department came up with this.  Not enough power to
get any motion before it overheats.  At 3V, it moves the wing 1/4" &
then dies.  That's 3A, almost the motor at full power.  At least we now
know medical tape sticks to wood & makes viable hinges.

Without a core, the solenoid isn't going to produce much thrust.
Conventional actuators are ruled out.  It takes a ton of force to move
the wing, compared to a normal micro plane.  It takes our largest NdFeB
magnet to fully deflect the wing.

 

 

 

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The ideal Marcy-1 is variable pitch & fixed RPM, as we learned before.
The best any useful weight is going to do is variable RPM & the minimum
actuation.  1 option is a solenoid core.  There's also a linear motor
with multiple solenoids.


1 search for actuators leads to another thing.

No, we are not trying to get a marrital tax deduction without a providing for a wife 1/2 our age. Homopolar motors looked like a novel way to get miniature thrust. The problem is fabricating bearings precise enough to reach enough RPM & attaching a propeller tight enough for VTOL.

Figured we'd make a high quality video of a homopolar motor, since all the others are out of focus. Those things are really tough to balance. See video above. Music: Transformers escape

 

 

 

 

 

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Comments

  • Moderator
    @Ken I like you thinking @Greg Jack is generally two or three years ahead of the rest of us. Best let him send us hints from the future.
  • Maybe the whole thing is just an unworkable idea? Time to move on.
  • Moderator
    I think I have seen the movie you got that music from Jack.....
  • Developer

    Jack,

         educational reading, thanks!

         I guess you don't want to just use a servo because of the inevitable mechanical failures?

         How about using that nano-muscle stuff?  http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8805

    -Randy

This reply was deleted.