Drone Rotor Cage Aerodynamic Drag Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Drones often become unstable and pose hazards due to rotor failures, which can lead to loss of flight control and injury from spinning rotor blades, as existing technologies lack effective solutions for maintaining stability and safety during such failures.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of rotor cages with aerodynamic designs, including ribs and spars with specific dimensions and shapes, that create drag to assist in maintaining a horizontal attitude and facilitate controlled landings by managing lift and drag during rotor malfunctions, combined with onboard sensors and autopilot systems to detect failures and adjust rotor power.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If rotor cages with aerodynamic designs are added to drones, then safety and stability during rotor failures are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The rotor cage is divided into multiple functional components including ribs extending from the motor housing and spars extending from the ribs, creating a segmented structure that provides aerodynamic surfaces for stability control during rotor failures
Solution Approach 2:
The rotor cage acts as an intermediary aerodynamic structure between the motor housing and the external environment, providing drag and lift forces that stabilize the drone during rotor failures without directly interfering with rotor operation
2Reliability
If rotor cages are designed to create drag for controlled descent, then safety during failures is improved, but weight of the drone increases
Solution Approach 1:
The rotor cage parameters including rib height, rib thickness, spar height, and spar thickness are optimized to provide sufficient aerodynamic drag for controlled descent while minimizing the overall weight of the structure
Solution Approach 2:
The rotor cage converts the harmful effect of uncontrolled descent during rotor failure into a beneficial controlled descent capability by creating aerodynamic drag forces that slow the rate of descent and stabilize the drone's attitude
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The rotor cages help maintain drone stability and control during rotor failures, ensuring safe landings and reducing the risk of injury from spinning blades, while the autopilot system enables autonomous controlled descent and landing.
Implementation Method 1
rotor cages with aerodynamic designs, including ribs and spars with specific dimensions and shapes, that create drag to assist in maintaining a horizontal attitude and facilitate controlled landings
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a drone rotor cage. The drone rotor cage may include a motor housing, a plurality of spars, and a plurality of ribs. The plurality of spars may extend from the motor housing. Each of the plurality of spars may have a spar height and a spar thickness. The spar height may be greater than the spar thickness. Each of the ribs may extend from a respective one of the plurality of spars. Each of the plurality of ribs may have a rib height and a rib thickness. The rib height may be greater than the rib thickness. The plurality of spars and the plurality of ribs may define a space sized to allow a rotor to spin freely when the rotor cage is attached to a drone.