In the last times with some of the members of RA we worked on the CAD of the test bench that we show you today. But, what is its goal? To measure the thrust provided by the propeller and the overall performance of the whole motorcycle-propeller group. So, the chosen prop is an 18×11 (18 is the diameter in inches; 11 is the pitch) and is foldable, because RA will land without the carriage and with a so large prop there would be the concrete risk of damaging/breaking it.
Thus, for this test bench the vertical hull will be made of glass fibre, the horizontal one partially in additive. Consequently, the bench has been realized trying to minimize, as much as possible, the interferences.
In addition, we tried to make it as modular as possible:
- the engine can be easily replaced;
- the upper hull will be realised in a way that allows it can be opened, thus allowing, if necessary, the upper part of the bench to be shortened and/or replaced.
Then there will also be the electronic part of data acquisition and engine control, in addition to batteries for power. As a result, the thrust will be measured with a load cell, positioned at the intersection of the vertical pillar and the horizontal arm.
This cell will have three axes, in fact these allow to detect even when mounting slight misalignments of the upper arm, so we can improve our job.
