Unmanned RC Helicopter

[ekozorov]

Hi guys,
I am a senior at UPenn and I am building a unmanned rc heli with some friends for my senior design project. I was hoping to get some help from you guys with some information.

First, what can we expect the payload for a small helicopter to be? Can any of them hold an extra half pound or less?

Is there anyone out there who has done something similar?

Thanks,
Gene

[Aztek1701]

Hi Gene,

Welcome to the forum

To answer your question with more of a formulae, a model helicopter can lift about 50% of its own weight but it is difficult to control because of the inertia that they pick up. To be controllable and fly the safe payload is about 40% of its own wieght, these are VERY rough but it gives you an idea.

Therefore, to lift .5lbs = 1.1 Kg... a 3Kg helicopter could lift this .....

Most .50 sized nitro helicopters (600mm Blades) are in this weight range so the answer is yes, quite a lot of them could lift a half a pound. To manage this though, you would need to sling the load at the centre of gravity and you would probably need to strengthen stuff + it would need to be done carefully so as not to stress the machine.

Has anyone done something similar?. Yes there are quite a lot of camera platforms in use in fact I think century models sells one pre customised which can lift a video camera. And minicopters also sell a machine called the "maxi joker" which is designed to lift stuff. Niether of these machines are cheap though because they are both in the .90 size range but they can lift approx 2.2 lbs

Hope this helps... Good luck... Azzy