MuFly 6 Tricopter

Last crawled date: 1 year, 10 months ago

My Independent Study and capstone design project at UMass Dec, 2014.
This is the 3d model of the Tri-copter I build using a 3d printed mold to fabricate an organically optimized carbon fiber body.
This is the journey of evolution of design, using by rethinking the fundamental building blocks of thought, finding the geometric equilibrium of structures and building fundamental 3d curve structures inspired by biology, technology, advanced materials (carbon fiber) and advanced fabrication techniques like 3d printing, these are then optimized by iterative FEA (Finite Element Analysis) and the understanding of stress flow distribution optimization.

The body is composed of 4 pieces, the Endo-shell (Inner Shell) & the 3 Limbs, which are designed by taking inspiration from biological joints with ligament and cartilage. The 'Ball' in this case is the shell's limb stub as the pivot point, the cartilage is made of shock dampening foam (Poron) under the indented pad region and the ligament is made of quick tie shoe laces.

During impact the arms disengage, as the foam goes into compression absorbing the immediate shock. The rest of the kinetic energy goes in loosening the bungee friction nut (quick tie Lace) which converts the energy into heat. This way the limbs are isolated from the most massive part of the body, i.e. the Endo-shell containing the huge battery pack and 70% of the total weight and the kinetic energy of the individual limb is absorbed by the dampening system.
Along with impact the dampening system also isolates the body i.e. the flight control board and the camera) from motor vibration.
The props are 9443 carbon props from hobby power, they auto align from the centrifugal force and fold during impact.
Thus all one has to do is zip up the ties and your ready to fly!