Hobby project: 3D-printed VTOL drone flies almost 210 km on one charge
Without much knowledge of aerodynamics and CAD, a hobbyist developed a VTOL drone with a long range. Most of the components came from a 3D printer.
The 3D-printed long-range drone can ascend vertically and then switch to horizontal flight.
(Image: Tsung Xu (Screenshot))
Engineer Tsung Xu has developed an electrically powered drone that can fly 130 miles (around 209.2Â km) at a stretch on a single charge. The drone is equipped with rigid wings, but can ascend and land vertically (VTOL). According to Xu, he has no experience of designing and building drones and has no knowledge of aerodynamics or CAD. The drone was largely built using a 3D printer.
Building a drone with a long range is a difficult task. The aircraft must be aerodynamically designed to minimize energy consumption to achieve a long flight time and thus a long range. In a private project, engineer Tsung Xu has succeeded in doing just that. Within 90 days, he designed a drone that can take off and land vertically and is capable of covering long distances in one go. Xu developed the drone from scratch without drawing on commercial models. According to Xu, he had no prior knowledge of CAD design, aerodynamic modeling or 3D printing.
Crashes and successes
The teething troubles with the project were correspondingly difficult: A series of crashes were initially the result. However, Xu was not deterred, worked on aerodynamics and improved the components until a functioning prototype could be created. The hobbyist printed the airframe and wings of the drone using an A1 printer from Bambu Lab, a printer that is available from around 300 euros. The electronics for controlling and stabilizing the drone consist of standard components. Here too, Xu had to make improvements in the course of the development work – for example, with the motors, the electronic speed controller (ESC) and the power supply. For example, the ESC overheated, so it had to be replaced, and other motors had to be used.
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The engineer uses a battery cell with a high-power density from model making as the battery for his long-distance drone. In this combination, he was able to prove with flight data that his VTOL can stay in the air for around three hours and fly the equivalent of 209.2 km.
The transition from hovering flight with four motors to horizontal flight with one motor worked almost immediately and was less of a challenge. The reverse process also worked largely flawlessly.
Xu says that his VTOL is currently one of the electrically powered drones from the 3D printer with the longest range. For comparison: Deutsche Bahn's long-range drone DB UAS was developed by experts, is significantly larger and achieves a maximum range of 150 km. However, it is not 3D-printed.
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According to Xu, the keys to success in the construction of his drone were the aerodynamic design, the increase in efficiency through the use of propellers with two blades instead of three and the use of a high-performance battery.
Xu is not currently making the plans for building his drone available as open source. However, a video documents the development and construction of the drone.
(olb)
