The Energy Economy of Aerial Robots

  

The Energy Economy of

Aerial Robots

 

As we all know some reasons for “Why don’t we see flying vehicles/machines around us in a sufficient quantity?”. One of the major reasons for this is the huge amount of energy required by this type of operation (flying)

 


To understand the reasons behind this energy consumption, first, we should have some knowledge of how aerodynamics works. Starting with the commonly known explanation of flight “The drag and thrust due to action of air”, which in simple terms means that “The flying object should produce enough thrust to counter its weight and drag offered by air resistance”. To obtain the required amount of thrust some technical specifications are to be met, this may include wing span to weight ratio, thrust offered by motors/propulsion system, aerodynamic design, etc.


Now let us see the energy requirement and other details of different flying objects,

1)  Planes (or any flying object based on wings to produce thrust)-

Pros-

i)               Energy consumption is comparatively less

ii)             More flight time (in air duration)

iii)          Highly aerodynamic design, which helps to lower the drag force

 

 

Cons-

i)               Volume is generally larger, which results in more weight of the body

ii)             Requires runway for takeoff

 

2)  Helicopters (or flying objects using propellers for thrust generation)-

Pros-

i)               Energy consumption is comparatively high

ii)             Volume is generally small

iii)          Easy to control

iv)          Can move in multiple directions

v)             Supports VTOL (vertical take-off and landing)

 

         Cons-

i)               Less flight time

 

There exists a hybrid of the above two types which uses both wings and propellers, for example-

1) Boeing V 22 osprey-

-       The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-mission, tilt-rotor military aircraft with both vertical take-off and landing and short take-off and landing capabilities.

 

-       Configuration while take-off

-      


 

-       Configuration during flight


 

2) Lockheed Martin F-35


- The F-35 supports VTOL using specific movements of the thruster powered by a very powerful jet engine

Have a look at its vertical take-off-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW28Mb1YvwY

 

This type of hybrid design allows the aircraft to take advantage of VTOL, which eliminates the requirement of a runway and makes the take-off and landing easy

 

The downside of these hybrid designs comes from the joints and mechanisms used to move the propellers/propulsion system

THANKS FOR READING!


Credits: Rohit Pawar, SY Mechanical, Tech Tuesday COEP Blogs.

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