The research is using a spiral development process, where flight data from small scale prototypes are used to validate existing simulation and dynamic models, and then those models are used as design tools for the next largest embodiment. So right now, there are three different scale systems which serve different demographics.
The smallest scale system is purely battery power, but offers flight endurance well beyond what conventional fixed-wing can achieve. Traditional 10-ft wingspan drones carry 5-pounds for about 90 min. A comparable weight/payload TURN system can fly closer to 7 hours. This prototype is being used as a minimum viable product for an upcoming product launch.
The company was awarded an SBIR research grant from the Air Force which considered an internal combustion engine TURN embodiment. While not eternal fight, it again offers significantly extended flight endurance. The best research aircraft can fly a 250 pound payload, drawing 2000 watts of power for about five days. My research shows that an IC TURN system could remain aloft for over 30 days.
Finally, the largest scale system is striving for eternal flight while operating within the stratosphere. At 65k feet, the system is above most weather and commercial airliner traffic, and the air is thin enough to warrant a large wing fitted with solar panels. By getting the power requirements low enough, the energy collected during the day is enough to remain aloft throughout the night, thereby eliminating the need to land and refuel.
This is a really neat project. I noted in the discussion that by rotating with end tip motive power you eliminate the need for stiffening the wing, however doesn't this increase the need for better tensile strength along the wing? (in order to prevent it from pulling itself apart, something "regular" wings don't get a lot of stress on).
Also, in typical rotor craft the lift is highest on the outer edge of the rotor and least in the center where the airfoil speed is slowest. Does that affect where you put the payload? Is it on the edges of the wing or still in the center? At the center, if the wing is supported by the centripetal force of the wingtip motor's angular momentum, there is a huge torque in the middle if you pull it down. (much like pulling down on a suspended cable). How much deflection before you have the same problem as the stiffened wings of current efforts?
Increasing tensile strength is super easy compared to improving bending and twist resistance, especially when the aerodynamics not only constrains the thickness of the wing but also rewards high aspect ratios (the tip-to-tip length of a wing compared to its front/back dimension).
Imagine a wing that's 20+ times longer than it is deep, and is only 5% as thick is it is deep (so, for example, a 20m wide wing, that's 1m deep front-to-back, and 5cm thick top-to-bottom) - that's really hard to get stiff in bending along it's long axis, and in twisting stiffness around that long axis. This is why - as the article mentions, a sailplanes long thin wings account for 40+% of the airframe weight, when a stubby-winged but less aerodynamically efficient wing (like, say a Cessna 172) the wing might only account for 10-20%$ of the total airframe weight.
This TURN design minimises bending/twisting forces by replacing the load bearing and alignment forces with mostly end-to-end tension ones - which are much easier to resist (just load the structure up with "axial" carbon fibre...).
Considering the system is essentially a constellation of fixed-wing drones with added drag from tethers, how can it be so much more efficient than a single fixed-wing drone?
Comments
The research is using a spiral development process, where flight data from small scale prototypes are used to validate existing simulation and dynamic models, and then those models are used as design tools for the next largest embodiment. So right now, there are three different scale systems which serve different demographics.
The smallest scale system is purely battery power, but offers flight endurance well beyond what conventional fixed-wing can achieve. Traditional 10-ft wingspan drones carry 5-pounds for about 90 min. A comparable weight/payload TURN system can fly closer to 7 hours. This prototype is being used as a minimum viable product for an upcoming product launch.
The company was awarded an SBIR research grant from the Air Force which considered an internal combustion engine TURN embodiment. While not eternal fight, it again offers significantly extended flight endurance. The best research aircraft can fly a 250 pound payload, drawing 2000 watts of power for about five days. My research shows that an IC TURN system could remain aloft for over 30 days.
Finally, the largest scale system is striving for eternal flight while operating within the stratosphere. At 65k feet, the system is above most weather and commercial airliner traffic, and the air is thin enough to warrant a large wing fitted with solar panels. By getting the power requirements low enough, the energy collected during the day is enough to remain aloft throughout the night, thereby eliminating the need to land and refuel.
This is a really neat project. I noted in the discussion that by rotating with end tip motive power you eliminate the need for stiffening the wing, however doesn't this increase the need for better tensile strength along the wing? (in order to prevent it from pulling itself apart, something "regular" wings don't get a lot of stress on).
Also, in typical rotor craft the lift is highest on the outer edge of the rotor and least in the center where the airfoil speed is slowest. Does that affect where you put the payload? Is it on the edges of the wing or still in the center? At the center, if the wing is supported by the centripetal force of the wingtip motor's angular momentum, there is a huge torque in the middle if you pull it down. (much like pulling down on a suspended cable). How much deflection before you have the same problem as the stiffened wings of current efforts?
Increasing tensile strength is super easy compared to improving bending and twist resistance, especially when the aerodynamics not only constrains the thickness of the wing but also rewards high aspect ratios (the tip-to-tip length of a wing compared to its front/back dimension).
Imagine a wing that's 20+ times longer than it is deep, and is only 5% as thick is it is deep (so, for example, a 20m wide wing, that's 1m deep front-to-back, and 5cm thick top-to-bottom) - that's really hard to get stiff in bending along it's long axis, and in twisting stiffness around that long axis. This is why - as the article mentions, a sailplanes long thin wings account for 40+% of the airframe weight, when a stubby-winged but less aerodynamically efficient wing (like, say a Cessna 172) the wing might only account for 10-20%$ of the total airframe weight.
This TURN design minimises bending/twisting forces by replacing the load bearing and alignment forces with mostly end-to-end tension ones - which are much easier to resist (just load the structure up with "axial" carbon fibre...).
Considering the system is essentially a constellation of fixed-wing drones with added drag from tethers, how can it be so much more efficient than a single fixed-wing drone?