So I am starting to gather the pieces to build a fixed wing drone. I plan on using EDFs. And EDFs come in many sizes. So other than “trial and error”, are there any resources that I can use to somewhat get the right sized motors first time out? I don’t even want to be guessing the final take off weight at this time. Its also “not going to be in a hurry to get anywhere”, with its mission being long range endurance. Anyone got any ideas on where to start figuring this out? Thanks
Start here, especially for EDF, electric ducted fan drive systems
Certain data is free, but license cost is negligible for a project like this.
Thanks, thats a great resource.
This could be an interesting topic to follow.
I’ve been considering the FlexInnovations EDF VTOL model but just as a fun aerobatic model. I’ve yet to see anyone come up with an endurance EDF model I think because generally EDF’s are not considered to be particularly efficient power systems. Though this guy did manage 16minutes with this setup.
An EDF retrofitted Parrot Disco. 40 km flight.
The plane I am building, I would like to see 100km range.
Being that it is a canard-glider, I think that will be achievable.
I don’t have CAD skills or 3d printer, so its being built the standard Pattern-mold-vacuum bagged composites way. So it may take some time….
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The best and most successful ventures usually do.
The Parrot Disco became a very popular modding platform after its significant price drop, I think I paid somewhere in the region of £250 when Currys were selling them off. It was my intention to load Ardupilot onto the Disco’s CHUCK flight controller, along with a HD video system, but I’ve never got round to it.
The last time I flew it was sometime ago, as you can see from the flight log below. One thing to note is the amount of battery usage over the duration of the flight, with sometime in loiter mode to allow for other air traffic to pass through. The battery was a regular 2200mAh 3S, which equates to roughly 700mA used for an averaged current draw of approximately 2.8Amp. I have a small EDF F18 that uses the same 2200mAh 3S batteries and I’d be hard pushed to get 7mins before the ESC would go into limp mode.
None the less your project does sound interesting and the airframe you’ve chosen will probably be more stable and efficient than a wing. The closest I have to anything that resembles a frame with canards is a Zohd Dart Extreme, and the flight efficiency of that is quite incredible.
I am building an 8000 mah battery for my Disco. Still needing to find out how to mod the code to make best use of such a pack.
If you Google “Scaled Composites Proteus“, this is same plan form that I am building.
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