Unmanned aerial vehicles have to use traditional propeller? Drum-type rotor-wing might be better! -IT information

For the time being, for the shape of aircraft we have already have a notion of curing, but use single-or multiple-axle paddle-wing to generate power, such as helicopters , and rotor UAV , and so on. As for "wheel-propelled" flying machine, say it may be more familiar.

"Wheel advance type" aircraft (cyclocopter) using of paddle wing somewhat special, academic Shang called "Cycloid paddle", is put paddle wing made a "drum type" of combination rotating to produced thrust and lift , many people at first glance a see may think this stuff special novelty, but this concept in about a a century yiqian on was proposed has, until later helicopter, and more axis aircraft of appeared, only gradually of was people by forgotten.

At present only a small part of the research team in research rolled wing aircraft, United States Texas flying laboratory Moble Benedict Professor and his team is one of them, recently they successfully rolled out a small wing, whole body weighs only 29 grams. It may be instead of helicopters, and multiaxial vehicles is a progress . Few words say, look at things.

Pictured above is the entire state of the flight, if you still do not quite understand how roll the wings are drones fly, look at the pictures you can see.

Eight oars wings focused on a drum-type structure, drums biography when each wing will be changed accordingly, drum fast scrolling through the upper and lower wing surfaces of poor air flow, thus at the bottom have a powerful reasoning, UAV took off. Meanwhile, drum toward the rear of the air at run time to produce forward thrust.

Moble Benedict engaged in rolling vehicle research for many years, he said, in theory, go wing kinetic energy is more efficient, less power consumption, as well as quieter, less space, more stable, at almost the same speed with the helicopter.

Moble Benedict said, they have proved that special structure rolling wing aircraft, its aerodynamic efficiency than conventional helicopters and more mobile, their ability to control the direction and speed are better than many traditional helicopter.

Speaking of which, I am sure you have a question, since the benefits so many things, unmanned aerial vehicles, vehicle development for so long, why no weapons this way?

Moble Benedict replied that people had tried to explore the rolling wing aircraft baishilai years, but in the early 20th century, great success and wide application of the helicopter, let people go on roller-type wing unmanned aerial vehicle research interest. In addition, the roll-wing drone earlier there is a fatal problem, is its wing structure is more complex, at run time, a lack of suitable flight control stability, now the technology has matured, it is no longer a problem in this respect. They developed the gyroscope, accelerator, and processors, and so on, and, for a long time its internal software debugging, now already on the market and the stability of unmanned aerial vehicles similar to the.

And roll before wing at run time, blades withstand more aerodynamic than a larger and earlier do not have the right kind of material might be adapted to the load-bearing, but as technology develops, the appearance of material, this problem will be solved. They were used in the trial of an innovative carbon fiber composite to produce blades, each film only 0.12 grams.

Future research directions

Moble Benedict says that in the future, will roll around the wing for more sophisticated research, allowing the drone a better, more useful.

First of all, they will study the materials, designed lighter and stronger blades, increasing load capacity under its rotating at high speed.

Secondly, roller-type wing structure of the aircraft needed to be streamlined, making it easier, or at least not as complex as the current.

Also, blade shape about drone hovering, high-speed flight status and efficiency, it still remains to be improved.

Benedict said, they have proved that this roll wing future potential, they are one of the next targets in roll on large aircraft-wing experiment, also extends to manned aircraft in the future. Now they've got United States military funding support.

Actually, to Cycloid pulp for lift of aircraft near two years also has appeared, in 2014 fifth session no machine Assembly exhibition Shang , a frame name for wind steamer of roll wing machine on is eye-catching, the machine also used has two a Cycloid pulp for lift source , while as Deputy wing control , used a propeller for pitching control and yaw control. However, the plane was only a concept, which for two years has no message.

In aircraft (especially consumer-level drone) form has been cured of the moment, many practitioners of the UAV study a lot is " old wine in a new bottle ", and not to think too much on the form, including many flying car concept was also used more than ordinary rotor UAV design, it's not boring. Benedict said roll-wing aircraft when the technology is mature, with flying cars will be more suitable than conventional aircraft, future prospects are very broad.

无人机必须用传统螺旋桨？滚筒式桨翼可能会更好！ - IT资讯

就目前来说，对于飞行器的形态大家有已经有了一个固化的观念，无非是使用单轴或多轴的桨翼来产生动力，比如直升机、多旋翼无人机等等。而对于“滚轮推进式”飞行器，说出来可能就比较陌生了。

“滚轮推进式”飞行器（cyclocopter）使用的桨翼有点特殊，学术上叫做“摆线桨”，是把桨翼做成一个“滚筒式”的组合旋转来产生推力和升力，很多人乍一看可能觉得这玩意特别新奇，但是这个概念在大约一个世纪以前就被提出了，直到后来直升机、多轴飞行器的出现，才逐渐的被人们所淡忘。

目前只有很少一部分的科研团队在做滚翼飞行器的研究，美国德克萨斯A&M飞行实验室的Moble Benedict教授以及他的团队就是其中之一，最近，他们成功研究出了一个小型的滚翼飞行器，整身重量只有29克。这可能是取代直升机、多轴飞行器的又一个进步。话不多说，先看东西。

上图就是整个飞行器飞行时的状态，如果还是不太明白这个滚翼是如何让无人机飞起来的，看下图你大概就能明白了。

八个桨翼集中在一个滚筒式的结构上，滚筒自传的时候每个桨翼都会相应的发生变化，滚筒高速滚动让流经上下翼面的空气产生流速差，从而在底部产生强大的推理，使得无人机起飞。同时，滚筒在运行时推向后方的气流能够产生向前的推力。

Moble Benedict从事滚翼飞行器研究多年，他表示，在理论上来讲，滚翼方式动能效率更高，功耗更小，同时会更安静，更节省空间，更稳定，在速度上跟直升机也相差无几。

Moble Benedict介绍说，目前他们已经证明了，由于滚翼飞行器的结构的特殊性，其空气动力的转换效率要远高于传统的直升机，而且机动性更强，其控制方向和速度的能力要优于传统直升机很多。

说到这，大家肯定有一个疑问，既然这个东西好处这么多，无人机、飞行器发展了这么久，为什么没有大规模采用这种方式呢？

Moble Benedict的回答是，人们曾经试图探索滚翼式飞行器百十来年了，不过在20世纪初，直升机的巨大成功和广泛应用，让人们是去了对滚翼式无人机研究的兴趣。另外，滚翼式无人机在早前有一个致命的问题，就是其桨翼结构比较复杂，在运行时缺乏适合的飞控稳定，如今科技已经成熟，这方面不再是问题。他们自己研发了相应的陀螺仪、加速器和处理器等等，并且对其内在软件进行了长时间的调试，现在稳定性已经与市面上的无人机相差无几了。

并且，以前滚翼飞行器在运行时，桨片所承受的空气动力比较大，早前没有合适的材料能够适合这个承重，不过随着科技发展，各种符合材料的出现，这一问题也就解决了。他们在试验中使用了创新型的碳纤维复合材料来制作桨片，每片只有0.12克。

未来的研究方向

Moble Benedict教授表示，在未来，会围绕着滚翼飞行器进行更精进的研究，从而让这种无人机更完善，更实用。

首先他们将会对材料进行研究，设计更轻、更结实的桨片，增加其在高速旋转下的荷载能力。

其次，需要对滚翼式飞行器的结构进行精简，让其更加简单，至少不能像目前这么复杂。

还有，对桨片形状的设计关乎无人机在悬停、高速飞行下的状态和效率，这方面还有待提升。

Benedict教授说，他们已经证明了这种滚翼飞行未来的潜力，他们接下来的目标之一是在大型飞行器上进行滚翼式的实验，未来也会延伸至有人驾驶飞机。目前他们已经得到了美国军方的资金上的支持。

其实，以摆线浆为升力的飞行器近两年也有出现，在2014年第五届无人机大会展览上，一架名为风火轮的滚翼机就十分抢眼，该机也采用了两个摆线浆为升力源，同时用作副翼控制，采用一个螺旋桨进行俯仰控制和偏航控制。不过，这架飞机在当时只是一架概念机，这两年已经没有了消息。

在飞行器（特别是消费级无人机）形态已经被固化的当下，众多从业者所进行的无人机研究很多都是“新瓶装旧酒”，并没有在形态上进行太多的思考，包括很多概念式的飞行汽车也使用了普通多旋翼无人机式的设计，这让人不免乏味。而Benedict教授表示，待滚翼飞行器技术成熟的时候，用在飞行汽车等方向会比传统的飞行器更加的合适，未来前景会十分广阔。