Collective Pitch T-Copter from AirFoil

[AirFoil-Skycam]

I had a customer tell me to stop in and check out the site. (FYI would like some advertising info on the site) Looks killer, very impressive!! We’ve always been in the aerial side of the R/C business (15 years last month) and with the multi rotor craze I’ve never seen it growing faster!! We manufacture mutli’s (last couple years) but generally we’re a little outside the box. We’re different in we start with a camera mount then build around that idea.

I've been working on 2 product designs launching in July that we spent over a year in the design/R&D phase.
One of the units is designed around flybarless controllers or heli auto pilots. Uses a basic heli motor/ESC/Nitro engine or the new OS 15cc gas. We’re hoping to break into the sport flying world with a 3D multi for fun but also let guys experiment with blade sizes, ratio's for a unit that can be customized to fit the end users wants and needs.

Pics of the unit for the mutli rotor guys to give some feed back on. Give me the good, bad or ugly.


View attachment 4651

http://www.airfoilaviation.com/helicam/TC-COPTER2.JPG

Hello from AirFoil. It's nice to meet you guys.


John

 

[Tomstoy2]

Impressive! Got any vid's of it flying?

 

[kloner]

that things way cool. wonder how hard it is to get rid of the jello in gopros with all them parts? would be fun to toss around

 

[MombasaFlash]

Interesting .... dubious.

 

[Pete80]

Looks sweet! I had this idea sitting in my head for a future project looks like you beat me to it! Haha... I think it would be sweet to have a gas multirotor that could fly for an hour...

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Malcr001]

It looks great. Got to see a video of this in action!

Im not into stunt flying myself but you are potentially breaking into something big here seeing as no one else is selling CP multicopters.

 

[Bowley]

This must be the way forward for MR's fewer expensive parts (motors/ESC's), better response, autorotation possible, etc etc.

 

[redridinghood]

Sweet looking tri. Any info on price?

 

[Malcr001]

This must be the way forward for MR's fewer expensive parts (motors/ESC's), better response, autorotation possible, etc etc.

If you want to stunt fly then its the only way to go but I disagree to an extent that this is the future for all multirotors.

When I converted to multirotors one of the big pros for me was that I was leaving all the bother with gear meshs, pinions, linkages, servos and belts behind that make a heli prone to twitchyness at times as well as long setup times.
Eliminating as much mechnaical parts as possible is the future in my opinion, going back to an almost heli setup is a step backwards.

You will probably see more CP multicopters, however I believe this will stay confined to those looking to stunt fly.

Pros:
Stunt flying!
Cheaper cost eliminating motors and esc's
Auto-rotation!

Cons:
Prone to the twitchy behavour helis sometimes have
Longer recovery time
More mechanical parts thus more potential problem areas

 

[yeehaanow]

I was thinking about the design of these single-motor multi's and wouldn't increased or decreased pitch on one arm cause the whole system to slow down/speed up and create a drop/rise in the whole craft? Even for a moment? Unless the controller was designed to account for that it seems like it would cause instability. Are you running a governed speed?

Even with a one-bearing on the motor, I seriously doubt you could perform an autorotation with blades that small. They just wouldn't have the inertia to keep spinning when pitch is applied.

In the end it only matters how well it fly's, but I don't expect to see a video for at least a few months.

EDIT- +1 Malc. And I'll add that those gears/ bearing and such are usually the sources of vibration. Not good for AP/AV use.

 

[llbr22]

You stated " 3D multi". If it could do 3D/stunt flying, awesome! If that what it'a made for, then I wouldn't care at all if it can do AP. Coming from the stunt/3d flying world, it's nice to see some out of the box creations out there, certainly not for everyone, but fun to watch (at least I'd hop so.. post some vids

 

[AirFoil-Skycam]

I can only speak for machines I’ve designed but I honestly don’t see any way a multi is capable of auto rotating without a blade mass length it would cause the unit to be uncontrollable except for perfect weather days.
The thought process behind the design was simple.One motor/ESC limiting failures, Collective to give the pilot more control inthe event of a autopilot failing, Longer flight times with higher efficiency lowerKV motors, The ability to change the length of blades and play with pitch to find the sweet spot for performance/flight times. Plus the ability to start moving multi’s into 3D flyer hands (this is limitless as to what they can do) One of the biggest reason was (Safety.) No more injury’s to customers hit during a spin up or malfunctions. Blades without sharp leading edges, blades filled with foam.

For all the heli pilots think about tail rotor damage after a crash. The only damage I’ve seen during R&D was blades and the rear blade spindle which we designed 1mm larger. I plan on flying the unit this weekend for a quick video.

Made a bone head move Friday while on the phone to a customer plugging the unit into 10 cells with a BEC limited to 6. Everything electrical on the unit was trashed. Replaced everything last night including the motor changed to a 300KV Xera. Gearing now1.6 main on 10 cells.

Thanks for the feedback.

John

 

[Tomstoy2]

Good luck on the test flight! Really looking forward to a vid!

Agree that auto-rotate won't happen. It's all about mass. A 250 heli doesn't auto worth a damn, a 450 barely.

 

[MombasaFlash]

... a step backwards ...

I tend to agree. Great. Not one but three tail rotors to keep slop-free and well lubricated.

The absence of mechanical linkages and consequent near zero daily maintenance is one of the attractive features of the 'standard' MR. This thing is an interesting experiment from a hobby engineering point of view and otherwise pointless if it is to be aimed mainly at stunt flyers. 3D flying is already an exercise of incredible skill that still results in an unattractive display of a 'thing' been thrown around the sky. This would be just another weird shaped insect thing flipping about that would hold even less visual fascination.

But, it still has to be done, just to see if it works.

 

[jrlederer]

I, personally, have my multirotor addiction rooted in single rotor 3D helicopter flight. This is the reason that, unlike the posts for me, I have to tell you that I think this is a fantastic idea, obviously not for AP flight, but for fun. Ironically, after leaving the park today with my multirotor, I was thinking to myself how much more fun it would be just while demonstrating at the park these machines (well, actually testing my configurations after component upgrade, but naturally turned to demonstration once people catch on to what you're doing), how much more I enjoyed demonstrating 3-D capabilities of my single rotors more. I actually went so far as to mension, to my friend who was with me today, my desire to eventually build collective pitch quad rotor or trirotor. Thank you for doing this research and I hope you have success. If and when you do so, count me in for at least one of these fine machines.

Jonathan

 

[AirFoil-Skycam]

Video from tonight. Going to start testing 3D settings in the flybarless controller this weekend.

 

[chevota]

I want one. Please put me on the list when available for purchase.

 

[MombasaFlash]

Other than as a technical exercise I still don't see the point. The concept seems to combine the less desirable aspects of both SR's and MR's but misses out on their respective advantages.

 

[AirFoil-Skycam]

First and foremost the design is giving the pilot back control over the limits of his machine.(not a fight controller) Giving people the option of electric/Nitro or 15cc gas. Multi’’s by nature are extremely limited by the use of solid props. Variable pitch opens up a huge new group of pilots that are real R/C pilots, love multi’s but limited to basic flying due to the design. I’ve been flying R/C heli’s and planes for 30+ years. I can see using a multi for AP or to learn on but after that the design limits the sport pilot from moving on to basic controlled maneuvers. If the goal is to hover then no this wouldn’t be a unit that would interest you ,but if your idea of R/C flying is showing the skill level of the pilot then this unit will go as far as the pilot pushes it.

Like a trainer plane not many stay with one once they've learned to fly. It's a logical next step in multi R/C.

John