A PROJECT REPORT ON

Development of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle -A Tricopter

BY
ETUKA NKEONYEASUA (PG/ENG1614775)
SUBMITTED TO
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
UNIVERSITY OF BENIN, EDO STATE NIGERIA.

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF B.TECH
Project work carried out at
Dipenze integrated Nigeria limited Laboratory,
Lagos Nigeria.

Under the guidance of

Professor Edokpai,
Production Engineering Department.
School of Engineering,
University of Benin

June-July 2019
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify the project work entitled “Development of an
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle -a Tricopter” carried out by

Name
ETUKA NKEONYEASUA

Is a bonafide work carried out at School of Engineering,

university of Benin, in partial
fulfilment for the award of the degree of Bachelor of
Technology in Production Engineering at University of Benin during the
academic year 2017-2018.The project report has been approved as it satisfies
the academic requirements in respect of project work prescribed for Bachelor
of Technology degree.

Signature of Guide
Professor Edokpai,
Production Engineering Department.
School of Engineering,
University of Benin.

External Viva

Name of the Examiners Signatures/Date

1.

2.

DECLARATION
I, hereby declare that the entire work embodied in this
dissertation has been carried out by me and no part of it has
been submitted for any degree or diploma of any institution
previously.

Place: Signature

Date: (ETUKA NKEONYEASUA)

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
On the successful completion of this project, I would like to acknowledge and extend my
heartfelt gratitude to the following people who have made the completion of this project possible:

I have immense pleasure in expressing my deep sense of gratitude and indebtedness to Professor
EDOKPAI R. for his invaluable guidance and advice.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION ................................

1.1 HISTORY OF VERTICAL FLIGHT .

1.2 DEFINITION ................................

1.3 HISTORY OF UAV ... .................

2 ELECTRIC PROPULSION SYSTEM

2.1 MOTOR SELECTION ...

2.2 ELECTRONIC SPEED CONTROLLER (ESC) ……………...1

2.3 BATTERY ............................................................................................ 2

2.4 SERVO MOTOR ... ……………………………………………4

2.5 MICROCONTROLLER .................................................................... 5

2.6 FLIGHT CONTROL BOARD ... ................................................... 18

2.7 TRANSMITTER & RECEIVER CONTROLS ... ........................ 20

2.7.1 FUTABA TRANSMITTER SETTINGS ... ........................... 21

2.8 MECHANICAL FRAME ... ........................................................... 22

3 CALCULATION AND SIMULATION RESULTS ... ................... 24

3.1 MOTOR........................................................................................... 24

3.2 BATTERY ...................................................................................... 24

3.3 ELECTRONIC SPEED CONTROLLER ... ................................. 25

3.4 SIMULINK MODEL -BATTERY .............................................. 26

3.5 SIMULINK MODEL -BLDC MOTOR ...................................... 27

4 PROPULSION THEORY AND ANALYSIS ... ............................... 31

 4.1 INTRODUCTION TO PROPELLERS ........................................31

4.2 PROPELLER THEORY ................................................................ 32

4.2.1 MOMENTUM THEORY: ... .................................................. 32

4.2.2 BLADE ELEMENT THEORY: ............................................ 33

4.2.3 COMBINED BLADE ELEMENT MOMENTUM THEORY.....35

4.3 PROPELLER ANALYSIS: ........................................................... 38

4.3.1 BLADE ELEMENT THEORY(BE T) ANALYSIS: ... ........ 44

4.3.2 STATIC THRUST BENCH ANALYSIS: ... ........................ 57

5 Conclusion ... ................................................................................................... 2

Appendix I .................................................................................................
LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1-1Paul Cornu -24hp Gasoline Flight Vehicle

Figure 1-2N°2 quad rotor designed by Oemichen.
Figure 1-3UAV Sector in the US (Autonomous Flying Robots)
Figure 1-4BQM-34 Firebee UAV of the US Air ForceError! Bookmark not
defined.
Figure 1-5The Asctec Pelican ................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 1-6Draganflyer X6 ... ...................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 2-1Brushed DC motor ... ................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 2-2Design & Prototyping of Brushless Motor - MITError! Bookmark not
defined.
Figure 2-3Turnigy Aero Drive Motor ..... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 2-4 APC Style Propeller (10X5) . Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 2-5Drive Calculator™ Results .... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 2-6Propeller Calculator™ Results.
Figure 2-7Turnigy Plush 60/80A ESC .....
Figure 2-8Zippy Flightmax Li-Po battery
Figure 2-9Wiring Schematic.
Figure 2-10A mechanical Gyroscope ..... . Figure
2-11 A digital Head Lock gyro .... . Figure
2-12HK401B Gyro - A closer . Figure
2-13ESC -Motor -Receiver Wiring, Castle Creations Inc
Figure 2-14HobbyKing KK 2.0 Flight Control Board
Figure 4-18 Propeller Efficiency Vs Advance Ratio at 4000 RPM
.
Figure 4-19 Thrust Coefficient Vs Advance Ratio at 5000 RPM.
Figure 4-20 Torque Coefficient Vs Advance Ratio at 5000 RPM.
Figure 4-21 Propeller Efficiency Vs Advance Ratio at 5000 RPM
Figure 4-22 Thrust Coefficient Vs Advance Ratio at 6000 RPM.
Figure 4-23 Torque Coefficient Vs Advance Ratio at 6000 RPM.
Figure 4-24 Propeller Efficiency Vs Advance Ratio at 6000RPM
Figure 4-25 Thrust Coefficient Vs Advance Ratio at 7000 RPM.
Figure 4-26 Torque Coefficient Vs Advance Ratio at 7000 RPM.
Figure 4-27 Propeller Efficiency Vs Advance Ratio at 7000RPM
Figure 4-28 Thrust Coefficient Vs Advance Ratio at 8000 RPM
Figure 4-29 Torque Coefficient Vs Advance Ratio at 8000 RPM
Figure 4-30 Propeller Efficiency Vs Advance Ratio at 8000RPM
Figure 4-31 Thrust Coefficient Vs Advance Ratio at 9000 RPM.
Figure 4-32 Torque Coefficient Vs Advance Ratio at 9000 RPM defined.
Figure 4-33 Propeller Efficiency Vs Advance Ratio at 9000RPM
Bookmark not defined.
Figure 4-34 Load Cell of 1.5kg Capacity.
Figure 4-35Thrust Bench Apparatus ....
Figure 4-36Thrust for various RPM
Figure 4-37Thrust for varying Current.
Figure 4-38Power for various RPM ...
Figure 4-39 Comparison between Thrust Bench and BET results

ABSTRACT

Aerial robotics is an emerging field combining both aerospace

and robotics. Drone, an aerial robot, is an unmanned aerial vehicle
which can be controlled from a remote location using complex
dynamic automation systems. The present work highlights
construction and testing aspects of the drone. Unlike a helicopter
that rises on a single column of air, the Drone rises on 3-8
columns of air making it more stable. It uses standard brushless
out runner motors with standard aerodynamically while
hovering. Speed controllers are employed to control the speed of
 each motor. The propellers connected to DC brushless motors
produce enough thrust so that the UAV takes-off

UAV. System is made stable by using gyroscopes, which measure the

orientations of the UAV in mechanism, the feed-back controller provides a
necessary feed-back to the gyros so as to bring the system back to
stability. Components were thus validated and their selection justified
using MATLAB SIMULINK flight controller is used to stabilize the UAV
againstturbulent orientations on the three arms. A 6 channel transmitter
receiver pair is used to control and maneuver the Dronein different
directions.
CHAPTER 01 -INTRODUCTION

1.1 HISTORY OF VERTICAL FLIGHT:

Manned flight takes its roots to the 1900‟s when Paul Cornu constructed a vertical
flight vehicle (Figure 1.1) reported to have carried a human off the ground for the
first time ever. Although, the sighting of such a machine over long distances has
never been verified, documentations suggest the vehicle made several tethered flights
for a few seconds at low altitudes. The machine was reportedly powered by a 24hp
gasoline engine that could hardly propel the vehicle to a hovered flight. In 1907, the
Breguet brothers built the first helicopter N°1 -a quad rotor look-alike powered by a 40hp
engine. This m achine also suffered severe stability problems and never flew freely.