idea for a flying bagpipe
Vito wrote 05/29/2015 at 16:08 • 1 pointThis is the idea, for a RC flying toy:
A single propeller, or a small centrifugal compressor blows air into a reservoir which is the body of the flying machine. The reservoir can even be made of textile material. So it will be an inflatable body.
In strategic points of the body there are nozzles equipped with small piezo valves (example http://vikingat.com). The air jets coming out from those nozzles keep the thing flying and control the position.
The piezo valves are really low power and can be opened and closed very fast (tens of hz), allowing to control the flow and the thrust in a PWM fashion, reducing pressure loss.
The prop or the compressor only has to keep the pressure of the body constant.
Only one motor = less current consumption, inflatable body = lightweight.
By the way I have no experience with flying things... Everything should be properly sized for low pressure drops across nozzles and reservoir, and also its size should be a tradeoff between capacity and aerodynamic drag. Could it work? What do you think?
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I think that you are going to have issues with the power to weight ratios. The nozzles and the valves are going to add a lot of weight. Also you are going to have to have an internal structure to make sure that the nozzles are pointing in the right directions. If you want an idea of how hard it is, look on the web for people that are trying to make a model harrier that works like the real one (with the rotating nozzles and the bleed air for control).
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Im no king with flying things either (or any sort of physics) but i get the hunch this wouldn't work, for the sole reason that "if you want something to come out, you gotta put something in" To be less cryptic about it, if you are gonna push air out of certain nozzles, your gonna need to be pulling equal amounts of air back into the 'sack'/bag/body.
You could possibly achieve it by lining all holes with fans to direct the airflow, and going for a ridgid very lightweight body
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Yes, that was the initial idea, the fan is continuously blowing into the bag, at a rate >= to what comes out from the nozzles (hence, keep constant pressure in it). It's a common strategy for controlling air flow going into different ducts, in ventilation plants.
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"I can imagine it soaring merrilly through the lowlands echoing scotish themes."
almost made me spit coffee on my laptop
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The pressure drops imposed by the valves would make the said system very inefficient. Said valves are usually heavy for the cycle of operation you describe. The idea would be interesting if the purpose was to make a flying "musical" bagpipe. I can imagine it soaring merrilly through the lowlands echoing scotish themes. Why not use the propeller as the main source of lift and fill the bag as a byproduct for vector control and of sound.
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Wow, the idea you described sounds even more interesting! :)
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