The Hummingbird project was an investigation into an unconventional
multirotor design for high payload capacity in a compact platform. I worked on a variety
of projects within the vehicle design, including thruster R/D, and
airframe design
Machining a foam core for the composite airframe
Modifying COTS propellors in milling machine
My contributions included:
- Conducted experiments to test effect of aerodynamic ducts on propellor thrust
- Wrote Python software implementation of blade element theory to
- Predict thrust vs. RPM for propellor designs to make design descisions
- Designed, CADed, and fabricated prototype foam+fiberglass composite airframe
- Designed shock absorbing landing gear
- Designed and fabricated machining fixture for modifying propellors to fit them
to the walls of the aerodynamic duct
Screenshot of output of my blade element implementation
Landing gear trade study
By the end of the Spring 2023 semester, we conducted a successful flight test of the
multirotor UAV.
