Hi again everyone. This is a follow-up to my article A-10 FIXED LANDING GEAR. A SOLUTION. By installing fixed gear to the FT A-10 there is a lot of real estate (i.e. room) created in the nacelles behind the motors. Many discussions have lead me to believe that there is concern out there about the ESCs being buried in the wings and potential heat related issues. I cannot say that I’ve actually heard of any occurrences but it did get me thinking. Now that all that room is available in the nacelles why not locate the ESCs in the nacelles and create a forced-air flow-thru ventilation system for them ?
It turned out to be very simple. The supplied Y harness for the power to the motors is plenty long enough to reach the nacelles. Here is a photo :
This is a bottom view of the nacelle looking up thru the existing landing gear opening. Note the fixed landing gear aft of the opening. (See A-10 FIXED LANDING GEAR. A SOLUTION ). This is a previous article .
From here I needed to create a positive air flow over the ESC so I figured that an air scoop would be the obvious solution. I made a small scoop out of scrap foam board that would fit inside of the existing gear opening .
Note that the scoop appears to have high sides. If you will note the side-view you will see a hole in the side piece. This is how I secured the scoop. Once in place I ran a barbecue skewer thru the original plywood doublers that were intended for the original axles. This holds the scoop in place and the whole thing is removable by simply pulling the skewer out.
I actually think it looks kind of cool (no pun intended) but I’m quite sure many of you will take issue with that !!
In order to create the flow-thru air path I created an opening in the back of the nacelle in what should be a low pressure zone.
I believe that this method could possibly be used for ESC cooling of ESCs buried in the wing if an opening was made in the rear spar at the appropriate location. If any of you do this please let me know how it works out ! I hope this article is good food for thought for everyone and not just on the A-10. There could be applications for similar installations on MANY different planes and prototypes!
SUBMITTED REPECTFULLY.... GARY CONTNER
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Don’t know if you can receive this note in 2022 but I’ll give it a try. I’m currently enjoying 3D printing of entire planes and parts. If you can give me the rough dimensions of the air scoop I can print them out in lightweight PLA. If you’re interested in this adaptation and more let me know. I may be able to redesign them in Fusion 360, the CAD program for 3D printing.
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