Design Proposal

ENGR 103 - Spring 2013
Freshman Engineering Design Lab

“Next generation quad copter”

Project Design Proposal

Date Submitted: April 10, 2013

Submitted to:	Dion Antao, dsa28@drexel.edu Deepak Siromani, ds84@drexel.edu David L. Miller, dmiller@drexel.edu
Group Members:	Adam Cho, aic35@drexel.edu
	Andrew Hill, ath64@drexel.edu
	Hector Yu, hy333@drexel.edu
	Chris Wardell, ccw44@drexel.edu

Abstract:

The design project is to increase the payload and increase the efficiency of quad copters and program them to be autonomous matter the place it is in. The motivation for doing this is I want to increase the amount of uses for a quad copter. Current quad copter can only carry cameras nothing very heavy and they can only fly for a very limited time and must be controlled by a user watching it somewhere.  I also made a quad copter before and noticed it can be used for more than surveillance. My goal was to make the quad copter be able to carry equipment into hard to reach places and also carry rescue and disaster equipment to help after a disaster that a ground or walking robot can’t go to. The issues we face are with the weight and power of the quad copter we might not be able to lift so much. By the end of this project we will produce a quad copter. It will have an on board processor on it. That will be able to lift heavy items and be able to fly for an extended period of time.

1           Introduction

Our goal we were trying to accomplish is to increase the payload of a quad copter. The issue with most quad copters is payload capacity. This makes using quad copters very limited to what they can do. They also suffer from power efficiency because they use a lot of power so they have a flight time under 30 minutes. Lastly most quad copters require that there to be a user to control the quad copter this issue can be solved by using technology that we use every day, Smartphones have GPS and gyroscope and very powerful processors.       

2           Deliverables

The final deliverable is a quad copter. The quad copter will use an onboard processor (Raspberry Pi) . That will be able to lift a big payload and be able to fly for an extended period of time. We will produce data analysis from our flying and lifting of payload. We will also run data test to see how long the drone will last flying.

3           Technical Activities

In order to make this project work and get the quad copter off the ground and to a flying start we need to work on the amount it can lift and how can we produce more lift with better propellers and how we are going to program the quad copter and how were going to be able to make it autonomous. These are all big task that require a lot of work. We need to be able to use Creo Parametric in order to design a proper chassis and perform stress test and also keep the weight down to a bare minimum.     

3.1        Increasing the efficiency 

We plan on increasing the efficiency of the quad copter by using more advanced batteries. We will also be using Creo Parametric  to design a very light weight and versatile frame to build the quad copter we will also be using Creo Parametric  to perform stress test to make sure that the frame can hold up to the weight that it will be lifting. We also plan on using more advanced materials like carbon fiber. We have to use this to keep the weight down while also allowing for a rigid structure. 

3.1.1        Designing the rotors

The designing of the rotors is very important  We plan on being able to design a more efficient type of rotor that allows for the robot to lift more weight. We plan on using a high end 3d printer to do this so we can use preexisting rotor designs and make them more efficient by modifying the length of every single rotor. We also need to be able to make sure that the rotors can all so withstand the turn and amount of force going against it. In order to make this work we will be testing the efficiency of multiple rotors and measure which one returns the best result. 

3.2        Increasing the payload

In order to increase the payload of the drone we plan on spreading out how the weight is distributed on the drone. Instead of having the weight hang only on the bottom skiffs we come up with strong points to distribute the weight properly. We also need to find a way to make those points interchangeable so that way we can carry payloads of different shapes.

4           Project Timeline

	Week
Task	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Parts/AutoCAD.	x	x	x	x
Mechanical design			x	x	x	x
Electrical design				x	x	x
Construction					x	x	x
Testing							x	x	x	x
Final report preparation								x	x	x

Table 1: Plan for designing and making and implanting the drone.

5           Facilities and Resources

We will need on campus work space in order to work on our project and keep our materials safe. We also need to use the machine shop so we can work on our frame for the quad copter. We also may need to use the rapid prototyping machine to come up with parts for the quad copter.  We also need space to test our project so we need to use a place where we can test our quad copter. If we can use the senior engineering lab where there test the drones that would be needed. We will also need to use a 3d printer to be able to print the rotor.    

6           Expertise

The expertise that is needed to work on this project is someone who is familiar with what a quad copter is and how it works. We also needed someone who was in the computer engineering department and knew how to program. We also need to learn basic circuitry and what a gyroscope and they need to know what all the components that make up the quad copter. WE need someone who knows how to use auto cad and Creo Parametric however all of us took engineering 100 so we all know how to do that.    

7           Budget

Category	Projected Cost
Quad copter Mech.	$351
Wireless video signal with receiver	$554
Controller	$325
TOTAL	$1230.58

7.1        Quad copter 

Table 2. This contains all the vital components and their parts needed to make a quad copter. This does include a frame. However I plan on making a frame for the quad copter from the machine shop.

7.2        First person video streaming with screen.

Table 3. This contains a go-pro camera for video stabilization. It also has a long range video transmitter and receiver with a 7 inch screen.

7.3        controller   

Table 4. This is not necessary but this is for a controller and a battery.