iPeel's EDF Quad

[iPeel]

Those who attended MD6 will be aware that the maiden flight of my EDF powered quad didn't go so well, I ended up carrying most of the parts away in a Tesco bag. An ongoing crash investigation is still trying to ascertain whether to apportion blame to the pilot or the chief engineer but during the flight I think there was a brown out which resulted in the APM board shutting down, whatever happened the sound of the quad hitting the deck was nearly as impressive as the sound of it running with an EDF at full tilt.

Those unaware of the project, it was to add an Electric Ducted Fan to a quad, not as the main thrust on each corner, but as an acceleration assist:



Basically I just 3D printed a duct, shoved an EDF in the front of it and stuck the whole thing on the roof of my quad and hoped for the best.

Having managed to salvage the EDF, ESCs and motors, and having a few spare arms in stock, I've taken positivity from my shattered carbon frame and designed a new EDF Quad body frame. Like a phoenix from the ashes, here is the version 2 design:



This time the EDF will occupy the core of the frame body, with F450 arms stretching out spider-style from the main body. This means I don't have to try and shape the thrust so it should be a little more powerful than the first attempt. I've also made the mountings for a KK 2.x board instead of the APM, so hopefully flying in Acro will mean it won't get as confused as the APM did when I light up the EDF. There's also a mounting point on the front for a Mobius and VTX with the battery being slung from mounting points on the bottom.

My 3D printer is currently singing next to me in the midst of a 6 hour print. (?)

More pictures to come, and hopefully ready in good time for MD7!



Neil.

[krikey]

I must admit that I wondered what the noise was when it started up. Looking forward to the finished pint. Presumably the entire frame will be 3D printed, so no CF and using standard DJI 450 arms?

[Coyote]

Looks very interesting :)

[Miles]

Looks cool :) On a side note, what antenna is that on your RX? :)

[iPeel]

i get what your doing with the duct to get thrust line close to the GOG but the thrust is transferred to the quad through the edf itself so your new design is far superior

If that's the case then how does a Harrier Jump Jet hover?

You're right though, the new design allows better thrust as the output is more than twice the area.

[iPeel]

I must admit that I wondered what the noise was when it started up. Looking forward to the finished pint. Presumably the entire frame will be 3D printed, so no CF and using standard DJI 450 arms?

Yeah, the old CF plates are cream crackered anyway and the F450 arms bolt straight on to the 3D printed frame. Omerod Web Control now says 15 hours remaining.  :(

[skyscraper]

cant help feeling that a couple of design changes might help...

1) Remove the 4 quadcopter arms and motors
2) Add some wings

:laugh:

But will watch with interest ( from a safe distance :o )

regards
Andy

[iPeel]

cant help feeling that a couple of design changes might help...

1) Remove the 4 quadcopter arms and motors
2) Add some wings

:laugh:

But will watch with interest ( from a safe distance :o )

Where would be the fun in that Andy? Although when I talked to Rob initially about the Ninturi I did want to put twin 90mm EDF's on it.

[iPeel]

So after a mere 17 hours, the print was done! I had a little panic 14 hours in where the extruder started packing up and for the last two hours had to apply pressure on the filament input to keep it extruding. I think the cold end got too warm and started needing more pressure to extrude. The print came out OK though:



With the arms test fitted it looks pretty good:



I just need to get hold of a KK2 board now and get everything assembled.

[skyscraper]

Looks fantastic. (twin 90 mm EDF Ninturi sounds even better though  :P)

You need to get rid of those feet though.. too much drag!

regards
Andy

[iPeel]

You need to get rid of those feet though.. too much drag!

Was having the same thought myself, it can take off from house bricks and if the last test was anything to go by I don't need to concern myself with the landing!

[Jake Bullit]

 :funfunfun: :flying: :popcorn:

[skyscraper]

You need to get rid of those feet though.. too much drag!

Was having the same thought myself, it can take off from house bricks and if the last test was anything to go by I don't need to concern myself with the landing!

If it works some wing shaped arms would be good too!

regards
Andy

[Brucey]

Looks awesome!

[CurryKitten]

That looks just the right side of evil madness.  Was there any footage of the previous one as I never got to see it fly - me and krikey were goggles on at the time when we heard what I imagined to be a chorus of hoovers starting up and them promptly thumping into the ground.