100 Years of Powered Flight : Macro to Micro

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100 Years of Powered Flight Macro to Micro
How Small?

• K Sudhakar
• Department of Aerospace Engineering
• Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai
• February 28, 2004

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100 Years of Powered Flight Macro to Micro
How Small?

• Looking back 100 Years?
• Why small aircraft?
• What has been achieved world-wide
• What have we achieved?

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Looking back 100 Years?
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Orville Wilbur Wright
1896 Lord Kelvin, I do not have the smallest
molecule of faith in aerial . . 1896 Wright
Brothers start their research 1901 WW to OW
Not within a thousand years would man fly!
Wind tunnel tests with speed and
accuracy. The time later reduced to 50 years
But takes only 2 years.
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Orville Wilbur Wright

• 1903
• Oct 7 Langleys two failures. Aerodrome
• Dec 8 falls into the Potomac
• Dec 14 Failure for Wright Brothers
• . . need not disturb or hurry us in the least.
  Langley
• needs better scientific data than is contained in
  his
• published works to successfully build a
  man-carrying
• flying Machine

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December 17, 1903. Historic First Flight
December 14, 2003. India Remembers.
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Challenges Ahead?
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Challenges Ahead?
How big can an aircraft get?
Mini ( 15 cm to 200 cm)
Micro (lt 15 cm)
How small can an aircraft get?
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Why Small Aircraft?

• Surveillance
• Hazard mitigation
• Military applications

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How to make quantum jumps?
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What are the issues?
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Everyone Loses Feel

• Solar Powered ?-aircraft of IIT-Bombay
• Power required 4 watts?
• Weight of 4 watt solar panel in the
• open market? in kgs!

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Videography Platform - IITB

• Challenge Posed
• (2002)
• Size not to exceed 60 cm
• Weight no to exceed 1 kg
• Time taken lt 6 months
• Distance 600 m
• Height 300 m

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Videography Platform

• Components

Size 60 cm, Weight 870 gm
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Comparison
6 (1/4th in size) But folds more complex
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Some of the Investigations _at_IITB

• Propulsion unit 60 by weight
• Propeller efficiency 40
• New propeller designs

Measure upto 40 gms
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Learning From Nature!
Flapping Wing Flight Birds
Wing Span (m)
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Early Attempts to Fly

• Leonardo da Vinci
• No success in imitating birds
• Lord Cayley shows the way
• Highly integrated solutions difficult!
• Decompose and conquer

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Man Made Bird. 1992!
Flapping Flight Efficiencies have been low!
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Fixed, Flapping, Rotary Wing?

• Nature suggests flapping for small aerial
  vehicles
• Efficiency of flapping wing vehicles built by man
  not very high!

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Flapping Flight in India
To the sheer amazement of the audience, the
model began beating its wings just like a bird
and started flying!, AVIA August 2003 on Mr K
Nandakumar, Chennai

• Moble Benedict (IIT-B) Designs Flapping Wing
• Involved, Intense Analysis
• Skilled manufacturing
• Innovative Testing

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Which Way!
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Thank You