17/12/2020

U.S Army researchers believe a new hinge is the key to get load-bearing, large, quadrotors to climb a few dozen feet in seconds.

This invention will likely improve agility without fully committing to a swashplate and the weight penalties associated with it.

Dr. Jean-Paul Reddinger, a research aerospace engineer with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, now known as DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory, is studying how quickly a quadrotor the size of a king-sized mattress can ascend from the ground to the rooftop of a two-story building, particularly with large payloads such as the weight of a Soldier.Reddinger invented a hinge at the root of the quadrotor blade next to the hub. He situated it so that the blade pitch changes with rotor speed.

As quadrotors and similar aircraft are scaled up, the extra inertia of the rotor blade slows them down, he said. It can take a long time for lightweight electric motors to change the rotor speed and thrust, which ultimately impacts the vehicle's speed, range and flight stability, but with this coupling the thrust becomes more sensitive to changes in rotation per minute, or RPM.Reddinger said the difference is large quadrotors carrying these loads that could climb roughly 25 feet in as little as two seconds with the hinge instead of three or four seconds without it.

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-army-quadcopters-faster.html

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