Multicopters are increasingly becoming popular for hobby and commercial applications. A variety of quadcopter, hexacopter, and octocopter configurations have emerged, yet few publications carefully investigate their performance. This paper contributes results from a series of dynamometer, wind-tunnel, and autonomous flight tests over different propeller configurations, flight speeds, and angles of attack. A modular small hexacopter platform providing propulsion unit redundancy is tested in the standard tractor configuration and a less common pusher configuration. Static thrust as a function of propeller, motor revolutions per minute, and motor current was determined from dynamometer tests. The hexacopter was mounted on a load cell test stand, and data were collected in the University of Michigan’s wind tunnel over different freestream flow speeds, motor thrust percentages, and hexacopter angles of attack. To validate wind-tunnel performance findings, outdoor autonomous flight tests were conducted. Results show the pusher configuration generates approximately 15% more thrust (lift) than do tractor propellers; however, they exhibit a relatively poor lift-to-drag ratio. These results suggests that a pusher configuration hexacopter will have higher efficiency for local-area surveillance applications requiring hover and slow flight, whereas a tractor configuration is more efficient for payload transport applications that require forward flight at appreciable velocities.
Experimental Investigation of Tractor and Pusher Hexacopter Performance
Journal of Aircraft ; 56 , 5 ; 1920-1934
2019-05-31
15 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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