PRELIMINARY DESIGN REPORT

GROUP1. Aeroingeniosos Marina Nieto Marcos

Aitor Oterino Ruiz
Laura Ruiz Ballesteros
Jaime Vela Elio
1. INTRODUCTION
2. DESIGN EVOLUTION
3. MATERIAL
4. ELECTRIC COMPONENTS
5. GENERAL DESIGN. PARTS
6. EXPECTED PERFORMANCES
7. PICTURES

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This project consists of designing an unmanned rotorcraft (RPAS) able to fly for as long as
possible (maximize endurance) and that meets the following requirements:
 MTOW (Maximum Take Off Weight)= 2kg
 PL (PayLoad) = 200g
 Budget= 500€

Analyzing some similar weighted drones in the market and its features, we decided that
a quadcopter would be the best solution for achieving the maximum endurance, since a higher
number of rotors, even with great stability, would need more power and therefore, a bigger and
heavier battery.

With that choice made, we looked through a variety similar drones comparing their pros and
cons:
MTOW (kg) PL (kg) E (min) nRot b R(mm) S(m2) Batt (mAh) Batt (v) Batt(kw) Disc LD vi (m/s) Pi (W)
UAV Draganflyer X4-ES 2,475 0,8 30 4 2 127 0,203 12,21 3,50 84,89
Lockheed Martin Indago 2,2 0,2 50 4 2 127 0,203 11000 13-17 V 10,85 3,30 71,14
Hubsan X4 Pro FPV H109S 1,1 0,65 23 4 2 30 0,011 7000 11,1 77,7 97,26 9,87 106,48
 Aeryon SkyRanger™ sUAS 2,4 50 4 2 127 0,203 11,84 3,44 81,06
GYRO 200 ED 3,1 0,8 35 4 2 38,1 0,018 6200 14,8 91,76 169,94 13,04 396,65
DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ 1,24 0,3 25 4 2 5200 11,1 57,72
MAVIC PRO PLATINUM 0,74 0,01 30 4 2 3830 11,4 43,662
Vantage Robotics Snap 0,57 0,2 20 4 2 85 0,091 3000 14,8 44,4 2,51 14,02
RPAS MCFLY-HELIOS HL 16,7 6 60 4 2

The chart reflects the data of the main quadcopters in the market around 2kg. We used
this table to make our first designs, taking into account that our mission was to reach
the maximum endurance.

Our main references were the “Lockheed Martin Indago” and specially the Vantage
Robotics Snap. This drone has an elongated central structure that gave us some ideas:
in the creation process, our drone always shared this kind of structure.

We researched the main features of batteries, engines, ESC (Electronic Speed Control),
propellers and connectors so that we could choose engines with enough power and combine
them properly with the rest of elements. The main components we bought were a 8000mAh
battery (4S) combined with 650kv, 4200rpm engines and 11 inches propellers (forum research
showed that a bigger propeller on this kind of rotors would cause extreme vibrations).

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Once we had decided on making a plane quadcopter we immediately settled that both the
batteries and the control system would go inside a shell that we would print. One of our first
ideas was to habilitate an access or entry to the interior of the shell and to do that we would use
a sliding gate at the front:

The pictures above were two of the first designs we thought of. We were debating between
using 4 arms or use a ‘T’ configuration (on each side, of course). We eventually opted for the
first alternative.

The picture above shows a more advanced design, were we started considering horizontal
sliding sections. We realized that the battery and the control system would make a too large
structure and that we would need to find a solution to compact the drone.

The school provides ABS 3d printing filament.

 Higher hardness and impact resistance.
 Better heat, pressure and stress resistance.
 Abrasion resistance
 More plastic behavior
 Easily mechanized, holed, painted, adhered,…
 Acetone-soluble material: Surface smoothening
 Sensitivity to environment makes it trickier to print with it.
 Prints a vertical overhang up to 45º
 Tendency to deformation (lower layers) and less precision (pointy corners)

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The ideal printing process would have allowed us to choose the printing density and the
honeycomb, to save some structure weight on the parts that don’t require the extra strength.
But since it was finally not possible, all parts would be printed with a rather high density.

The purchased elements that will allow the drone to fly are:

The drone will also require M3 and M4 screws, washers and nuts (provided by the school), as
well as a battery charger.

The general design consists on a central fuselage with two levels, the lower one will hold the
battery, and the top floor (separated by a plate) will contain the GPS, payload, flight controller
and ESC. A bolted-on top lid will allow to modify the upper level elements, while a sliding door
will give access to the battery.

Stuck to this fuselage (with epoxy), there will be four parts to place, orientate and hold the four
arms.

On the other end of the arms, the engines-holding “cups” will be bolted. And finally, the
legs/landing gear will be stuck to them.

FUSELAGE
We designed closed shell, employing the vertical space to reduce the overall length of the drone
by using a two floor arrangement: two rails would hold the sliding central plate. The arms could

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no longer be perpendicular to the shell wall with this configuration so we opted for putting the
arms angled at 45 degrees.

In order to access inside the drone (both lower and upper floors), the top of the fuselage would
be covered with a removable lid and the front part with a sliding gate.

To avoid overheating issues, the shell is full of cooling slits and holes

In order to make possible the impression, we cut the body into 6 parts (base, roof, wall1, wall
2, back and front) so that the guide rails and the lateral holes (to fit the connectors) would not
create too much support material.

ARMS
We decided to use 200 mm carbon fiber
arms to lighten the structure and reduce the
risk of flexing within our budget. On the
shape, we opted for an outer 1cm square
with a circular hole (8mm diameter) in order
to make it easier to drill and to fit the
connectors, that would be printed with that
square form for 3D printer reasons.

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CONNECTORS
To join the arms to the body, we
developed angled connectors:

We wanted to have the arms somewhat

elevated from the fuselage, however, we
didn´t have much space to work with.
That’s why we designed the base of the
connector asymmetrically (one side longer
than the other so that it would fit the
fuselage walls height).

Originally the connectors were to be

printed with the shell as one piece but
since the machine would never print such
a complicated design, we finally separated
them, adding a hole in the shell/body
where we could later glue the connectors.

The union with the arm would be made

with two through-screws and nuts in a
perpendicular disposition. We consider that while one screw would create a big concentration
of strains, that problem would not appear when using two.

Besides, it is worth mentioning that we employed a 1 mm clearance so that with the low
precision of the printer the parts would fit to perfection.

Once designed, we had to cut each connector in 4 pieces through the interior planes of the
squared hole.

SLIDING FRONT GATE AND CENTRAL PLATE

We included two sliding parts in our projects:
One to be used as the second floor and the other
as the sliding front gate of the drone.

We included an adjustment of 0.5mm between

the parts and the holes they would slide by,
which once printed proved to be effective
enough. The space this parts separate is design
so that the battery could fit in without moving.

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ENGINE BOX
We needed a surface to place the engines and connect them to the arms, so, after measuring
the mentioned components, we designed the following parts:

The pieces have two missions: The big hole would contain the engine, and it would be anchored
to the base with four screws. Then, the squared frontal hole would held the arm tightly, and it
would be secured with two through-bolts.

The lower surface would be indented with the appropriate shape to fit the landing gear.

In order to print this parts, we had to cut them through the horizontal plane that contains the
lower surface of the frontal squared hole. That would create a minimal amount of support
material.

LANDING GEAR
Connected to the last part is the landing gear. We created four angled
“legs” that with a straight top that is meant to fill the indentation of
the engine box.

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 STRUCTURE
DRONE MTOW (kg) PL (kg) Battery (Wh) nRot b Rrot (m) c (m) Srot (m2) S total(m2) E (min)
GYROFLY Gyro 500 X4 1,5 0,2 91,76 4 2 0,19 0,548 35
DJI Phantom II 1,3 0,2 4 2 0,132 25
Draganflyer X4-ES 2,475 0,8 4 2 1,189 16
Hubsan X4 Pro H109S 1,669 0,65 77,7 4 2 0,12 0,045 25
Lockheed Martin Indago 2,2 0,2 4 2 0,127 0,114 0,051 50
Vantage Robotics Snap 0,57 0,2 44,4 4 3 0,085 0,035 0,023
YUNEEC TYPHOON H 1,95 0,3 79,9 6 2 0,112 0,013 0,039 0,38 25
DJI Phantom 4 1,38 81,3 4 2 0,094 0,015 0,028 0,22 28
ASCTEC Falcon 8 2,3 0,8 6250 mAh 8 2 0,1 0,023 0,031 0,25 20
DJI Matrice 200 6,14 2,34 97,6 4 2 0,21 0,025 0,139 0,89 38

STRUCTURE
Performance
DRONE MTOW (kg) PL (kg) Range
E (min) Battery
(m) (Wh)Vcruise
nRot(m/s) b Vvert
Rrot (m)
(m/s) c (m) (m) SrotΩmax (rad/s)
hmax (m2) S total(m2) E
GYROFLY Gyro 500 X4 1,535 0,2 200091,76 415 2 0,19 1000 0,548
DJI Phantom II 1,325 0,2 415 2 6 0,132
Draganflyer X4-ES 2,47516 0,8 4 2 1,189
Hubsan X4 Pro H109S 1,66925 0,65 150077,7 410 2 0,12 6 3000 0,045
Lockheed Martin Indago 2,2 50 0,2 3000 4 2 0,127 0,114 0,051
Vantage Robotics Snap 0,57 0,2 44,4 4 3 0,085 0,035 0,023
YUNEEC TYPHOON H 1,9525 0,3 91 79,9 6
19,5 2 0,112
5 0,013
122 0,039 1,5 0,38
DJI Phantom 4 1,3828 700081,3 420 2 0,094
6 0,015
6000 0,028 3,5 0,22
ASCTEC Falcon 8 2,320 0,8 6250 mAh
1000 816 2 0,1 0,023 0,031 0,25
DJI Matrice 200 6,1438 2,34 700097,6 423 2 50,21 0,025
3000 0,139 0,89

Considering the battery chosen, way more powerful than the ones of the drones above, the endurance
of our RPAS should go up to 40 minutes, but the manufacturing techniques and possible electrical
problems might reduce this endurance to 20 minutes.

We did not focus on the drone speed, although we assume the vertical velocity will be similar 5m/s
and the cruise one will be 20m/s.

The website http://www.xdrones.es/multicopter-calculator/ offers an estimation of the angular

speed, power and amperage that the engines will require based on the battery features.

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