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RC Plane

Personal - Summer 2023

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Summary

 

This plane was a challenge to myself to research and develop a simple 3D printed tailless plane. Through it, I began to understand the aerodynamic properties of tailless planes, gained a greater familiarity with surface modeling tools in Fusion 360, and was able to apply ANSYS Fluent to a real-world project for the first time.

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Goals for Plane

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  • Easy Manufacturability - Minimize support parts, separate bodies to fit within a reasonable build volume

  • Employ "Subtractive Design" instead of exclusively "Additive Design" in CAD

    • I had the idea to design auxiliary parts separately and then use them to cut away from the main body to reduce the amount of modelling I had to do directly on complicated surfaces.

  • Consider topology and edge flow of plane surface

  • Print in multiple materials depending on purpose 

    • TPU, PLA, LW PLA​

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Folded Config.png

The initial concept for the plane featured a pull-propeller, folding wings, clips for securing the wings during flight, and a tail fin with an FPV camera attached.

General Research Findings

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Tailless planes generally have many additional stabilizing characteristics to compensate for the lack of an elevator and rudder.

  1. Sweep - pushes the aerodynamic center of pressure back ​
  2. Washout - improves stall performance
  3. Airfoils w/ Reflex Camber - counteracts typical airfoil pitching moments ​​
    • This can also be achieved by raising the thrust line slightly above cg (although this has the secondary benefit of also improving stability during acceleration)​
  4. Wingtips - lessens the effect of adverse yaw when rolling

  5. Lowering cg and adding dihedral may also improve stability

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Tailless Aircraft Design -- Recent Experiences by Ilan Kroo 

The Elements of Tailless Airplane Design by A. A. Backstrom

Reflex on a glider.png
CG v. Reflex.png

An analysis of the structure (esp. reflex) of a glider 

A comparison between the moment coefficients of ordinary airfoils and airfoils w/ reflex camber.

Reference Sketches.png
Inspo.png

(big inspiration for shape)

Fuselage Reference.png

To-scale design based on research, personal preference, and the capabilities of 3D printing

A closer inspection of the fuselage with electronic components

Surface workflow 

Mesh and Design Planning.png
Mesh Overview Sketches.png

Sketch References

Mesh Overview.png

Base Mesh​

Mesh Overview Wingtip.png

Wingtip Mesh

Features

Clips

(on the underside too)

FPV Camera Hole

Control Surfaces

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TPU Nose Cone

Feature Wingtip Wheel.png
Features Clip.png
Features Camera Hole_edited.jpg

Winglet Wheel

Landing Gear + Recess

Full Shot Underside.png

Servo + Control Surface

Feature Servo and Control Surface.png
Feature Landing.png
Control Surface Down.png
Control Surface Neutral.png
Control Surface Up.png

Control surface and servo are linked in CAD

Fuse Underside.png

Retracted Landing Gear

Charging Port

TRUST Number

Feature Extended Landing Gear.png

Retracted, the landing gear strut matches the curvature of the fuselage. 

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Extended, the geometry of the landing gear will rest against the fuse lid, providing support to disperse the impact of landing.

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Feature Retracted Landing Gear.png
Feature Extended Landing Gear.png

The back fuselage features a cavity to house a small motor and a coupler + shaft to elongate the motor's reach. This way, the plane skin can more gradually approach the diameter of the shaft, maintaining an aerodynamic fuselage profile. 

With the 9" propeller fully extended, there is still ~1" of clearance for takeoff and landing. The difference in height between the wingtip wheels and landing gear also creates a slightly positive angle of attack that is desirable for takeoff and landing.

Plane Side Profile.png
Feature Extended Landing Gear.png

Coming Soon

  • ANSYS Fluent Tests for Pressure Regions and Aerodynamic Qualities

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