Design of vertical take-off landing quadplane

• Main Author: Foo, Clement Dun Jie
• Other Authors: Erdal Kayacan
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/75065
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The popularity of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) has been increasing rapidly over the past few years and are now commercially available for anyone from amateurs to professional to purchase and fly it straight out of the box. Over the years, multiple variants and designs of UAVs have emerged in the market – from the Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) types to fixedwing aircrafts and hybrid-VTOL aircraft which are capable of VTOL and horizontal flight using its fixed wing for lift instead of relying on the propellers. Whilst these new designs and configurations continue to emerge in the market from time to time, developers and researchers have been trying to improve the capabilities and efficiency of the UAV. The limitations of UAVs come mainly from the battery capacity and the physical weight of the UAV itself. Hence, it is imperative that the UAV should only carry weights that are necessary for its flight. The typical VTOL fixed-wing UAV utilises four motors for its vertical take-off and landing phase and a separate tail-mounted motor for the forward flight phase, both of which are redundant when in the forward flight phase and VTOL phase respectively. This final year project looks into designing and implementation of the tilt mechanism using 3D printing for a fixed-wing hybrid-VTOL quadplane for the transition from a vertical hover to forward flight and vice versa. The tilt mechanism allows for a more efficient flight as it eliminates the dead-weight of having a tail-mounted motor that is used solely for forward flight as well as the reduction of drag from a windmilling rotor in flight. The report also highlights the limitations of the current design and suggests improvements that could be used in future hybrid-VTOL design UAVs.