{"id":2032,"date":"2010-11-07T19:45:34","date_gmt":"2010-11-08T02:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=2032"},"modified":"2010-11-07T21:28:25","modified_gmt":"2010-11-08T04:28:25","slug":"the-verticopter%c2%ae-an-adaptable-and-expandable-convertiplane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/the-verticopter%c2%ae-an-adaptable-and-expandable-convertiplane\/","title":{"rendered":"The Verticopter\u00ae , an Adaptable and Expandable Convertiplane"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oliver Garrow, founder, designer, and President of Garrow Aircraft LLC, says it right up front, \u201cMy design is completely counterintuitive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pilots are used to counterintuitive thinking.\u00a0 Push the nose down and add power when you\u2019ve stalled and are heading groundward anyway, for instance.\u00a0 But the logic of what Garrow is doing becomes apparent only when you see the\u00a0Verticopter\u00ae flying.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Adaptable for varying flight characteristics, the Verticopter can be powered by one or more motors.\u00a0 A single motor, for instance, would provide a simple solution for a conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft.\u00a0 A short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) airplane might use two or more motors.\u00a0 Full vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) would require four to six motors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Motors can be pivoted on all models, providing vectored thrust that makes the most of the airplane\u2019s unique configuration.\u00a0 Garrow sees electric power as ideal for this application, and the use of one or multiple motors simplifies the problem of vectoring the thrust to suit the flight condition.<\/p>\n

He found that more motors and smaller propellers within the annular opening allow greater flexibility of control than a single large disk.\u00a0 His current test model has four motors and propellers for thrust, with one smaller unit on one wing tip for roll control and one on the tail for\u00a0pitch\u00a0control.\u00a0 Differential thrust vectoring gives the craft great flexibility in maneuvering, including in yaw.<\/p>\n

Expandable to many sizes, Garrow sees his design as fitting the needs of everything a personal air vehicle up to those of a fairly sizeable intra-city commuter liner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oliver and his team members are excited by recent progress in expanding their vehicle\u2019s envelope to VTOL operations.\u00a0 He has been granted the use of the unmanned aerial vehicle\u00a0(UAV) runway area at Moffett Field, near the famous zeppelin hangars and the NASA Ames Research Center\u2019s iconic wind tunnel.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cNote the custom-built windsock in the background, showing little wind, while this runway is on the seaside (inner bay), so normally quite windy,\u201d Oliver explains.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Model Verticopter in flight with NASA Ames Research Center wind tunnel in background<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI attached an exclusive picture taken on the runway at AMES… showing one hover run with Proto37, the two pilots on the left and me in red on the right.\u201d\u00a0 For now, Garrow needs one pilot to manage the vertical aspects of flight and a second to control the horizontal, but this Outer Limits<\/em> approach will be replaced by computer-aided single-control simplicity in the actual vehicle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough it was exciting to expand the flight envelope of our proof-of-concept UAV from CTOL to STOL, from STOL to STOVL, the VTOL expansion phase is quite the most rewarding, because of the challenge to balance a 18-lb. craft just on power thrust.\u201d<\/p>\n