Electrically Powered UAVs

By

Chris Erman

Table Of Contents

The DC electric Motor Operation Advantages Disadvantages The Gyro Advantage Gyro Stabilization Communication with

Ground Types of Control Works Cited

The DC Motor

Have two small magnets Made from iron and

cobalt alloys Usually Lithium-ion

Best weight to power storage ratio

They are brushless motors

Operation

The First Magnet has a bunch of copper coils around it acting like a stator

Electromagnets change polarity due to an integrated inverter

The changing polarity causes the rotor with magnets to spin

Operation:

The second magnet is a rotor.

The changing polarity causes the rotor with magnets to spin

Operation: The Rotor applies the torque

to the blade No needed gear boxes!!!!

Saves a lot of Weight!!!

Operation

The entire assembly is powered by a small battery Varies with size Externally Recharged Battery life is limited

10-20 minutes Lead acid, Nickel

Cadmium, or Lithium Polymer

Operation

The motor assembly is held together in a motor housing

Protects fragile components

Adds extra weight Creates Durability

Operation

Check out this link! http://edisontechcenter.org/Drones.html

Advantages

Controllable and Reliable

Motor can be turned on/off easily

Throttled autonomously

Vibration is low Motor is Brushless

Disadvantages

With a battery pack, overall thrust to weight ratio can be worse than a fueled engine

Battery life is limited Cost can be prohibitive

as thrust increases

Gyro Stabilazation

The motor can be connected to an onboard computer (Attopilot)

The Attopilot uses 3 gyros (one for each axis) and GPS to determine how much power should be applied to each DC motor.

Communication Downlink- transmit to

ground Uplink-transmit to UAV Transmits GPS data,

speed, altitude to a moving map on ground station computer

The operator/computer uses this information to determine power to each motor

Can be used on Ipad or Smart Phone

Types of Control With an electric motor, it

is easy to set up flight with a program to assist.

Manual control-relies solely on operator

Enhanced Manual Control- Operator is assisted by gyro stabilization, PS downlink or other means

Autonomous Control-UAS flies to waypoints at specific altitudes with no operator input

Questions?

Works Cited