Week 9, prototype in progress

This is the Week 9, where the project is due on the 16th weeks, 5 more weeks!!!!

This week,  we would like to focus on the quadrotor and the programming parts itself.

The structure of the quadrotor is made of acrylic, a mock prototype. so as to test the fitting of different parts and components provided by the controls.

 This 4 insane motor is not light in weight, but has the torque to lift the whole copter, but now the copter is estimated to be 5kg. Too heavy....

Well, for the control parts, this is what jonathan daryl has in his parts.

Installing the new APM 2.6 microprocessor•Before APM 2.6 was installed the previous micro-processor was DJI NAZA•With the new micro-processor installed and hooking it up with new GPS and a new power module, we have our “improved” Quad copter!   

Programming and Configuring Futaba Controller

•With the current setup, the futaba controller is re-configure with 12-chn interface

•The video is attached on the folder

•Unfortunately we haven’t able to fly this quad copter yet, as one of the motor is damaged 

and we are waiting for a the new one

•But as seen on the video each motor can turn and should be able to fly when the 

propellers are attached on them

Autonomous control

•Introducing the parts that we are going to use, the Xbee

•Both units are able to communicate with each other and one will act as 
the transceiver, sending data from the land control station, and the receiver that is 
on the quad copter itself.

•Things to take note, autonomous flight is not allowed in certain countries and you 
need to seek clearance from government authorities, for this school project we will not
fly the quad copter outside of our intended work space area.

Here I have attach a video on the DJI copter, please enjoy!!! woooooohooooo 

Preparing to test the quadrotor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

This is a protective cage that we will use to test the propeller speed

that's all for this week, next week will be more exciting~~~ cheers! 

And the build being...

We are all getting bored of the paper works, equations and theories. Finally moving on from paper warriors to the fabrication of Quad Rojak. Before anything tangible can happen, there are a little more paper works to be conquered. While waiting the the shipment of raw materials, we should proudly present to you our concepts through the posters 

From the System Level Design (SysLeD), Angus, my point of view. The parameters of Quad Rojak had been established after numerous experiment with in house design and 3D printed equipments.

Figure 43: System design of quad copter

From the Control System Design, JD, point of view. The configuration and programming of the Microprocessor and Electronic speed controller had also been decided. Meanwhile, JD will use his understanding of the new Microprocessor and attempt to fly the existing quad copter Flame Wheel 450 (the one we disassemble during the first week).

Figure 44:Control system Design of quad copter

Up next we have Edwin Goh who is in charge of the structure. Material selected are mainly carbon fiber and some aluminium. We knew that Edwin had made the right choice for material when he mentioned that it was harder to cut carbon fiber rod than metal rod. Before making any major decision in the detail design Edwin intended to use acrylic and 3D printing to build our first Quad Rojak prototype.

Figure 45: Sawing of carbon fiber rod

Figure 45: Some standard components, carbon fiber rods and 3D printed parts

Figure 46: Structure design of quad copter

Jeremy Yeo the Battery loader designer. After tremendous effort and time spending on researching, computer aided design (CAD) software and 3D printing Jeremy was finally able to come out with all the require components down to the smallest details (number of teeth in the rack and pinion).

Figure 47: Battery loader design for quad copter

It is now Wong B.Z turn, he who is in charge of crash protection cage.The material chosen is also mainly carbon fiber and some rubber for connections purposes. Anyone must know that with more protection it is going to weight more on Quad Rojak. Therefore for now, B.Z is still trying to find a balance between protection and weight before the fabrication of crash protection cage can being.

Figure 48: Robust crash cage design for quad copter

Finally, we have Leonard our terrestrial drive designer. After much discussion with the team, Leonard had decided to change some design features of the current Terrestrial Drive. A very exciting prototype to look forward to, stay tuned folk. 

Figure 48: Robust crash cage design for quad copter

Special Thanks to Jeremy Yeo and Daniel Ng Chi Koon for preparing Spaghetti for the class this week. It was out of goodwill seeing how hard we work for the Quad copter project Jeremy Yeo decided that he should encourage us with home cooked food. Such group mate, heart warming.

  

Hi all!
Leonard here. I will be updating the blog for this week.
At the start of week 7,we continued to work on our finalised concepts, making the required changes accordingly and drew the appropriate engineering drawings.

First off, we have Angus,
With confirmation of appropriate calculations for motor selection, he proceeded to purchase one motor. As the new motor has been collected, further experiments were being conducted for testing.

Figure 31: New motor

Fiqure 32: Motor mounted with Propeller

Figure 33: Conduct of experiment

After determining the appropriate motor for the quadrotor, Edwin proceeds to make changes to the main frame of the quadrotor. By working with the dimensions of the motor, changes have been made to the main frame so that the motor can be mounted properly. The main frame of the quadrotor consist of four pieces of carbon fiber cylindrical rods being clamped into position. Each of the rod has a mounting platform that allow the motor to sit into position. The following pictures show the proper mounting of the motors.

Figure 34: Mounting platform for motor

Figure 35: Clamping of cylindrical rods

Figure 36: Cylindrial rods with mounting platforms

Figure 37: Mounting of motors with propellers

By obtaining the appropriate details of the main frame, Both Bing Zhi and I have to work on our concepts based on the given length constraints.

For Bing Zhi, he created a crash proof structure that has been improved. The whole structure is made out of carbon fiber cylindrical rods. As the structure consists of many individual parts that need to be connected together, different kind of connectors are bing used to connect a part to another part. The following CAD drawing shows the actual structure.

Figure 38: CAD drawing of crash proof structure

As for my latest concept of the terrestrial drive system, the design is inspired from a bicycle's wheel. At the bicycle's wheel, a wheel hub that consists of bearings is connected to main wheel. The wheel hub enable full rotation of the wheel when it is connected to the main frame of bicycle.

The two wheels act as travelling mechanism. Four cylindrical rods are used to provide support and stiffnes to the structure. A bearing system is placed at the center of each wheel. By placing two shafts that will be fixed to the quadrotor main frame, the bearing systems allows the wheels to rotate. The structure will be built around the quadrotor with shafts connected to the center of the quadrotor.

Figure 39: CAD drawing for terrestrial drive system

Figure 40: Quadcopter with terrestrial drive system

As Jeremy has to create a interchangeable battery system for the quadrotor, his concept is to create a sliding tray for the battery pack to rest on. The sliding tray will be dependent on a rack and pinion actuator located at the bottom of the interchangeable battery system. The structure is designed in a manner that allows the quadcopter to fly in and land into position so that the battery can be replaced easily

Figure 41: Top view of system

Figure 42: Bottom view of system

These are the updates for this week. Feel free to comment below.

Hello all!
Jeremy updating the blog for this week.
At the start of this week we finalised the different concepts that we were going to use. At the same time each member presented his chosen concept and would be proceeding with it.

By the way this is the end of week 6. The end draws near....

First off we have Angus,

Based on calculations, he has determined the number of motors needed for different propeller blades.

                                          Figure 26. Propeller configuration

From this he is also able to select the number of battery and capacity required. More calculations coming his way to take into account drag.

Next up is Bing Zhi.

He will be conducting experiments to calculate the amount of bending a carbon fibre rod can take.

                                          Figure 27. deflection equations

He is also looking into possible work of increasing the drag of the quadcopter during free fall. Very interesting work going on.

And next we have Edwin.

He has designed a test sample to simulate a load on the structure of the main piece.

                                          Figure 28. Test rig for central structure

The part was 3D printed and its use to test the force the joints can withstand before failure.

Next up we have JD,

He will working closely with Angus to complete the design of experiment for the motor selection.
He is also doing work on the microcontroller board, the arduino leonardo. We'll be posting snippets of the coding soon.

On my side I have started on the docking bay design.

                                             Figure 29. Docking bay design
And lastly we have Leonard.

                                         Figure 30. Rolling terrestrial drive

This drawing is an initial form and it will be converted into a cad drawing.

That's all for this week! Feel free to comment below.

March is here!!

Hi readers of this blog!
JD here updating the blog this week!
The month of March is finally here and the quadcopter team was busy writing up our Interim report for our supervisors last week!

Here are the progress of what our team has done this week besides writing up our interim report,

Progress 1: Crash protection cage

Shown above is the crash protection cage concept that has been made by our group mate Bing Zhi. It's concept look like an inverted ice cream with a cone, the one in white it's actually just a stand for it to be able to showcase it to our lecturers.
Even though it is just a rough concept, it can work well on different surfaces!

Like seen above it works on a flat surface and even grass!!

Progress 2: Test thrust rig

For Angus and me we've actually done a few experiments where we took down data on the propellers, motor and the ESC of the system. Basically it's a continuation of what we've trying to achieve since 2 weeks ago.

Like seen on the picture above, we've actually added the tachometer which is used to measure the RPM of the blades, and see how fast it spins.
Another thing that we've added is the multimeter to see how much a motor with an ESC takes the power from the battery. It is certainly surprising that this small motor on it's maximum RPM actually takes around 10 Amp of current with the supply of 11.1 V, which makes it's power consumption to be about 110W!!!

We've actually compared the datas we've calculated with the supposed theoretical calculations of the motor max RPM without the blades.

The datas can be seen on this link
Experiment 25.02.14 data

And the picture above shows me and angus testing the motor with the protection walls and the cool protective glasses that we wear.


There are still a lot more stuffs to be done on our part, and school is getting busier each week, but keep tuning on this channel!! We will update the blog every week and you will see it fly soon!!!!!!!

Take care!!!

JD