Team #BlackPanther presents - The Flying Piranha

Introducing The Flying Piranha - designed to tear through the skies.

Designed using SOLIDWORKS xDesign and rendered usnig CATIA Live Rendering.

Features:

Airfoil Body
The quadcopter is designed to optimize speed and fly faster than a conventional drone by integrating an airfoil/streamline design on the main body. The quadcopter has flat surface on top and streamline curve at the bottom to achieve 3 objectives:
1. Smooth air-flow and reduction of vortex generation to ultimately decrease drag.
2. To produce aerodynamic lift during a forward climb due to the curvature at the bottom.
3. To align rotors orthogonal to the ground at standby, in order to achieve maximum rotor lift during takeoff.

Staggered and Inclined Rotors
The rotors are inclined at 19 degrees with the vertical axis. The purpose of the inclination is so that the quadcoptor's airfoil body is aligned with the air flow during forward acceleration. The inclination necessitates a staggered assembly of rotors to avoid air stream mixing by the front and rear blades.

Twin Tail Empennage
The Twin Tail design was chosen to improve the aerodynamics over the body at high speeds. Additionally, at high rotor speeds, conventional quadcopter bodies tend to tilt forward. The tail design utilizes air pressure to counteract the forward tilt and allow the quadcopter to maintain airfoil alignment.

Pipe Brackets
The two pairs of rotors are fitted on a single hollow pipe to maintain sturdiness with the rest of the body as the quadcopter accelerates and faces extreme stagnation air pressure. The front pipe is fixed to the body and will be 3D printed with it. The rear pipe is a separate piece designed to clamp the body from above. The hollow structure provides increased strength at a lower mass and accessibility to the motor wiring.

Openings and Vents
The body can be opened at the top, after removing the rear pipe, to access the processor and wiring. The body is hollow and vents are integrated at the top, bottom and both sides. These vents serve three purposes:
1. To allow air to pass through the body and thus decrease drag.
2. To cool the processor and camera.
3. To decrease weight of the body.

Antenna
The antenna is large to support data transmission across great distances.

​​​​​​​