YEAIR - Combustion Engined QuadroCopter

[SleepyC]

About this project​

The combustion engine bears the main load and is powered by fuel which has ultimate power density in contrast to conventional batteries. Unfortunately combustion engines are not very dynamic. We have developed an elaborated system with an electrically powered alternate/hub shaft. This shaft is directly coupled to the combustor to relate accelerations and delay values, effectively empowering the quadcopter to fly as stable as e-flight-only, giving it more power for a longer period of time.

The hub shaft is able to start the combustion engine, so an extra starting device is not necessary. Simply fuel up and you are ready to take off. The small on board battery starts the engine. While in flight it buffers the energy resulting from slowing down the engine and puts it on disposal again, should acceleration be needed. So you end up with almost full battery which is handy if you want to refuel and start again.

By skillfully automanaging of the driving units, malfunctioning of combustion engines or a controlling unit is swiftly compensated for, depending on the number of affected units. In any case a safe landing is guaranteed in contrast to conventional quadcopters with e-engines only. There a malfunction will end up in a guaranteed crash. Our model has virtually built-in octocopter safety inside the quadcopter. Remark: Our combustion engines are off-the-shelf and run on conventional motorbike/scooter fuel.

More info:KICKSTARTER

 

[cootertwo]

I've had that idea going around in my head for years. I've wondered about 4 throttle servos instead of 4 ESC's. Also toyed with the idea of building a hover craft, one gas engine, and 4 flaps, controlled by 4 servos, same idea. Will be neat to see where this project goes.

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Interesting. I always thought a combustion engine but with collective pitch props would be a great combo.

Also great for keeping weight down as in the UK fuel doesn't count as weight!

 

[cootertwo]

I'm just getting into this APM stuff, but with all the adjustable varibles in those programs, I'll bet some one could get something going, either 4 small gas motors, or 1 motor, servos controlling either the throttles, or the collective pitches. Talk about a flying weed eater! Yes, I saw the prop guards. Would love to hear that puppy running. I think I saw a video of some body that had put a nitro engine in one of Curtis Youngbloods collective pitch machines.

 

[Old Man]

Ain't no possible way that's happening as described, and especially for the price. Looks more like another shady Kickstarter deal to me.

I spent the better part of a year working with hybrid MR designs and can state with certainty there's no glow fuel two stroke engine, that when combined in a group of four, is going to allow for 5kG of payload and an hour of flight time. The amount of fuel required to fly those engines for an hour would be close or more to 2kG all by itself. Using a glow fuel two stroke engine requires pretty much doubles (or more) the amount o fuel required of a gasoline two stroke. You will obtain a little more power from the glow fuel engine but only because of the amount o fuel being run through it. I work every day with a small two stroke engine that's been tricked out to the max to obtain maximum efficiency and economy to fly a long duration fixed wing UAV and could not fit them to that configuration and hope for long duration and lifting capability without also having a lifting body. If it had to perform in a VTOL configuration the odds of success would be reduced even further.

Next move to that frame and the roll up landing gear. The gear adds quite a bit of weight, further reducing the payload capability. There's quite a bit of stuff necessary for all that contraption to work that isn't being shown in the video.

 

[fltundra]

Ain't no possible way that's happening as described, and especially for the price. Looks more like another shady Kickstarter deal to me.

I spent the better part of a year working with hybrid MR designs and can state with certainty there's no glow fuel two stroke engine, that when combined in a group of four, is going to allow for 5kG of payload and an hour of flight time. The amount of fuel required to fly those engines for an hour would be close or more to 2kG all by itself. Using a glow fuel two stroke engine requires pretty much doubles (or more) the amount o fuel required of a gasoline two stroke. You will obtain a little more power from the glow fuel engine but only because of the amount o fuel being run through it. I work every day with a small two stroke engine that's been tricked out to the max to obtain maximum efficiency and economy to fly a long duration fixed wing UAV and could not fit them to that configuration and hope for long duration and lifting capability without also having a lifting body. If it had to perform in a VTOL configuration the odds of success would be reduced even further.

Next move to that frame and the roll up landing gear. The gear adds quite a bit of weight, further reducing the payload capability. There's quite a bit of stuff necessary for all that contraption to work that isn't being shown in the video.

Even with the OS GT-60 gas engines at 6 hp each wide open would need two and a half quarts of fuel to run 8 min.
"A 600cc tank will provide 12~13 minutes flight.
(With full throttle, it will provide 7~8 minutes flight.)"

 

[ProfEngr]

About 20yrs ago when I was in college (read: naive and 10ft tall) I toyed with the idea of teaching weed eaters to fly. Inspired by the Viper TV series and an article in Model Airplane about a vtol plane I set to work. Worked up 3D CAD drawings for a twin ducted-prop craft using control surfaces in the prop wash. Only thing that kept me from finishing it was not being able to balance the output of both engines; 1 side made 6lbs more thrust. By my rough estimates it would have easily lifted a few kg with just the 2 engines. With all the new tech on the market and if my rich uncle ever gets out of the poorhouse I'll start working on it again.

I do believe that the OP is a pipe dream as a hybrid, but wish them the best of luck if they're serious about it.