Our Solarplane Dreamship Surprise

by hartmaennchen | October 29, 2013 | (40) Posted in Projects

Hello Flitetest,

Thats my first article and I want to show you our Solarplane that we build this summer.

We are currently in the 11th class and that was our project for the last schoolyear.

Before that in the 9th class we build an solarboat :

 

After that we thought of something more faster and we want to build an solarplane.

As an inspiration we found that very nice project : http://www.solarimpulse.com/

Our first idea was to build an own plane for the solarcells but because we had not so much money and time we bought an wing that was made for gliding : http://www.kuestenflieger.de/modelle/albatros/index.html

For the cells we used some of a little german factory. The specs are:

0,6 V and 2 A by a size of 78x78 mm

On our plane we have 24 of that and with good sun we have 13 V and 2 A.

 

Here are some pictures of the build;

The wingspan is 2 meters and finally the weight is about 1,5 kilogramm.

After we build the wings we had to build a case for the solarcells and a motormount.

We decided to print the things on our 3d printer mendel prusa.

Here are the cases for the solarcells. Some in balsa and some in abs. We had to build some in balsa because our filament was empty :)

 

For flight stabilisation and autonomous flight we bought an CRIUS AIO by RcTimer with GPS and Current Sensor so we could let it flight alone.

 

Our biggest Problem was how to charge the battary in flight with all the Current that we have.

We could either build an own MPPT or we could use an balancer charger.

We decided to use this Balancing Charger from parkzone : http://www.parkzone.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=PKZ1040

It can charge with up to 3 A. After we bought one on Ebay we adjusted it :

 

Thats the final product :)

 

 

The battery in the front is a Lipo 3S 3300 mAh.

The motor draws on cruising speed a little bit more than 2 A. Our longest flight was something around 3 hours and still some power in the battery :)

Greetings from germany

Jan :)

COMMENTS

windphile on November 18, 2013
That is a very interesting post. I have a suggestion for even longer flights. JLN from DIYdrones has develop Thermopilot and autopilot that hunts for thermals based on ardupilot. He also run it on Crius. I think that combining both methods you could get epic flight times.
What firmware are you running Crius?
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Alek9517 on November 6, 2013
Have you link to the solar panel?
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hartmaennchen on November 8, 2013
Sure - It's a german shop :

http://www.lemo-solar.de/shop/solarzellen.php?p=2

Solarzelle (lose Solarzelle)
Solarzelle 0,61 Volt / 2174 mA / 1022 mW /78 x 78 x 0,3 mm

:)
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cholfeltz on November 7, 2013
You guys are genius'! If you have any other in-depth documentation on this feel free to post it! I will read for sure! Keep up the good work, wish I was doing stuff like this, let alone at that age!
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hartmaennchen on November 8, 2013
Well, we have a more in-depht documentation but it is in german. When you are interested i could write something more in-depht here :)

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Ahrimraziel on November 10, 2013
I'd be very glad to read that documentation in German. Ich kann auch Deutsch lesen, sprechen, usw.
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cholfeltz on November 12, 2013
Yeah, Anything you have get it posted! (in German or English, we'll see if google can't translate it for me). If it's up on a blog somewhere put the link! You guys are genius'! I'm going to attempt this, and I just want to double my flight time with some solar cells and I'll be happy! The same charger is already on its way from ebay!
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onemoreflite (John Michaels) on November 6, 2013
Awesome! A bright future ahead for these chaps!
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hartmaennchen on November 8, 2013
Thanks for the great reply :)


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Billbo911 on November 6, 2013
3 hours on 3300mAh? I would say the panels are doing a good job of collecting energy! I look forward to the day when solar panels are more efficient. I can see covering the top of the wing and not needing a battery at all, but that day is not here yet.
Great job of designing and building this!
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Munk on November 8, 2013
Do you have a link for the solar panels you used?
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flight monkey on November 12, 2013
Cant post on you tube anylonger. But awesome. Job. Now we need build planes. ASAP. Aww come on, pretty please ☺
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Trauma50 on November 6, 2013
Great job, keeping any plane up for that long is a feat in it's self. But on one pack wow.
Solar power is the way of the future, as is with all renewable energy. These guys have a great things ahead to do.
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T-Reu on November 8, 2013
Very cool! Can you give details like total weight and wingspan?
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hartmaennchen on November 8, 2013
The wingspan is about 2 meters and the weight is around 2 KG :)
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JeromeT on November 20, 2013
Jan,
congratulations, great, great job !
I am currently coaching a student team that have the same project.
Actually 26 watt to maintain in the air a 1.5 kg model is really a good deal !
Few questions:
1) Why do you use cases for the solar cells ?
We plan to use the same solar cells from Lemo-Solar but with a classic glider (wings in wod structure). As I have not seen yet theses solar cells, do you think it could be sticked directly on the wings ?

2) Do you have an electric schema explaining how you connect all components ?
Focus on the balancer-charger: do you recommend specific setup ?

3) what wing loading factor do you have ?

many thanks


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liveyourdreamsRC on November 7, 2013
Very nice guys! Amazing knowledge and 3 hours is great time on a 3300! Keep it up!!!!!!
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beatnik1967 on November 10, 2013
i call bullshit. the amount of batteries you would need to fly that plane for 3 hours, my conservative guess is 10 times the battery power you claimed to have used could not be replaced by solar power. conversion from light to power isnt even that close to that effecient or we would all be doing it right now. Fun idea, future possibilities for sure but complete bullshit. sorry to be harsh but liars piss me off.
Conrad
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Trauma50 on November 19, 2013
beatnik1967 Did you happen to notice that this is a school project?? A kid. So he may be stretching the numbers a little. Give him a break. What were you doing at that age??

Calling him a liar? .A little harsh don't you think? Encouragement, and help may be a better way. The concept is cool, did you see this glider on FT?

Solar Wonder - electric flyier without batteries by House Of Noob - See http://flitetest.com/articles/solar-wonder
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wired on November 11, 2013
It is not clear from your comment what aspect of the post you disagree with. Do you dispute that the 24 solar cells have the output claimed in good sunlight, that they can provide 2A at 13volts? Or do you dispute that in slow cruise the draw on the 3S battery powering the propeller is about 2A?

If the motor/ESC draw a little over 2A continuous at 11-13v, and the solar cells provide a current of a little less than 2A continuous to the balance charger that is charging the 3S battery, then the continuous shortfall that would result in a net discharge of the 3S battery could be rather small.

It seems believable to me that a 3300mah 3S battery might support a small discharge rate for 3 hours, since it should in theory be able to deliver a full ampere for 3.3 hours.

Just 'sayin...
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beatnik1967 on November 12, 2013
Let me simplyfy. Forget your numbers. Especially the one where you claim you can fly with only 2 amps to the motor. Led lights on an rc plane can be a bigger load then 2 amps. You can not fly withb2 amps unless your plane is a paper plane. With all that extra gear, you have a large heavy plane.

Ill bet with that battery and no solar cells that u cant fly for more then 20 min. 3 hours divide by 20min is 15. So to fly for that long you would need 15 of the same batteries. There is no way your solar cells can deliver that much power. Stop trolling and be realistic.
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beatnik1967 on November 12, 2013
Ok oops. Its 9 batteries but my point remains that this is impossible. Show me the motor with specs for sufficient thrust (should be around 1000grams) and curent draw of only 2 amps. Ill pay anything for that motor.
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rickehrle on November 12, 2013
Let's ask Flite Test (David Windestal) to make this plane and decide wheter it is a valid or not project
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beatnik1967 on November 12, 2013
Its a waste of time unless someone can produce a motor for him to use which only draws 2 amps. Post the link to any motor big enough for this size and weight of plane that draws 2 amps then we can let flite test give it a shot. By the way. I am an electrical engineering texhnician so I am not talking out my ass here.
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hartmaennchen on November 12, 2013
Hello guys,
The plane is not a normal wing for fast flying, it´s made for hanggliding without an motor. (http://www.kuestenflieger.de/modelle/albatros/bausatz.html)
Without a motor, just servos, a little battery and receiver it weights about 850 Gramm.
Our boxes for the cells are 2,4 for the plastic ones and 1,8 for the balsa.
One Solarcell is under one gramm.
The weight of the motor is 52 gramms.
The 3S 3300 Lipo weights 278 gramm.
The Charger weights 68 gramm.
All the other stuff like wires and electronics are maybe 200 gramms.
850+40+52+278+68+200=1488 gramms
So it´s for 2 meter wingspan really not heavy.
The thrust for a slow flying plane like this doesnt have to be 1:2.
You have the greatest efficiency when the prop is spinning slow like on the solarimpulse : http://www.solarimpulse.com/en/airplane/hb-sia/

When we start the plane we have to give 70 % of thrust to get it in the air, but if it flies we can come down to 20 % to hold it in the air.

We also have a voltage regulator on board. So when the sun is shining good can we got 0,58-0,6 V out of each cell. So is our Voltage by around 14 Volt and our current goes up to 2,3 A with what we can charge the cell.

And beatnik1967, with your estimation about the number of batteries you say nothing concrete. There were people who said a copter can never fly over 30 minutes and talked about like they new all about that stuff. And than there are some people who simply bring their ideas into real.

And when we have sommer again here, i can make you a 3 hour video about it when you want.

Cheers
Jan



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beatnik1967 on November 12, 2013
well I cant read the language from the first link you sent. The second link is not remotely comparable to your plane except if you want to have a discussion about the efficiency of different props but I am not talking about that. I don't care how efficient you think the prop is. Show me a link to a motor that can propel this plane at 2 amps. show me a continuous unedited video. that's way too heavy of a plane for a 2 amp motor to stay in the air, you will never stay in the air.
NOT EVEN CLOSE TO CONVINCED
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beatnik1967 on November 12, 2013
If you are counting on gliding on columns of rising hot air, that doesn't count, you should be able to do it in the cold! Gilders stay in the air for hours with no motor, but so does balls of ice in a hail storm. so are we talking about a self propelled airplane or something at the mercy of nature?
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hartmaennchen on November 13, 2013
Hello,

Here is a Motor for example who can deliver 430 grams of thrust at a 4S by 2.1 A.
http://www.encorerc.com/tiger-motor-mn4010-14-370kv-navigator-series/

Because we have not that much money for a motor, we buyed this one http://www.rctimer.com/product_123.html and made our one winding.
We have made more windings to get a lower kv and now we have a thrust of 260 gramms at 2,1 Amps.

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rickehrle on November 12, 2013
Thanks for the info, it makes total sense! Really nice job. Congratulations.
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the nerdling on November 9, 2013
Dear santa...
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sailorJohn on November 7, 2013
WOW! NSA should take heed .
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FPVFlyer on November 10, 2013
Nice project! Did you think about less but larger solar panels, or was it mainly cost driving the use of smaller cells? Looks like they are mostly wired parallel.
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notsane on November 6, 2013
Very impressive! I'm surprised that your solar cells increase flight time that much. I think that (if you can afford it) switching to a traditional sailplane rather than a flying wing would boost your flight times significantly. In your case the main issue is efficiency and a flying wing with its natural elevon reflex has much more drag than a traditional sailplane. Keep experimenting!
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hartmaennchen on November 8, 2013
I think you are wrong. :) A flying wing always has a better efficiency than a normal plane simply because it doesn't have a fuselage and can produce more lift.
For us, the wing also has a bigger space for the cells :)
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docmetal on November 7, 2013
I could not imagine 3 hours in the air . I have kept my gentle lady up for 1 hour ill never do it again . 10 minutes on the Bixler is a long time . 6 minutes of intense flying is good for me .on a Yak 54 or something

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hartmaennchen on November 8, 2013
For this reason we have the CRIUS as autopilot :)
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Hasersys on November 8, 2013
Just curious what your avg speed is? As far as I know the long range one way flights with fpv seem to be limited by battery time. With a sail plane setup if one can handle the space for the solar panels couldn't you blow the long range fpv recored out of the water. Ou guys rock, thanks for sharing your build! It is amazing
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Dodge on November 12, 2013
Fantastic!
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Our Solarplane Dreamship Surprise