WORKING PRINCIPLE OF VTOL UAV

ABSTRACT

The vertical takeoff and landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are flying air crafts which

run without any humans on board. They can take off and land vertically. The aim of the paper is

to understand how the VTOL UAV works and some of its applications. In this research paper,

the existing VTOL UAV have been discussed in, and their applications also have been clarified.

Finally, a conclusion based on the working principle of the VTOL UAV has been drawn. from the

conclusion the VTOL UAV takes off by use of the action and reaction force in that for it to take

off vertically thrust from the engine in directed downward and thus it can lift up. For it to propel

forward, the VTOL UAV tilts slightly to direct some of its thrust forward. Also, this paper has

explained how the thrust from the engine is generated by various parts of the engine.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

VTOL UAV is an aircraft without a pilot onboard. VTOL UAVs were designed in the 1950s and

used for military purpose. The UAV was primarily developed to be used remotely. The fight

operator controls the aircraft at the ground station. These vehicles are mainly used for military

tasks and can perform very dangerous missions. In the 1990s these aircraft earned a lot of

research attention due to their ability to perform tough tasks or very critical tasks safely. Today,

UAVs are not only used for military operations but also are being used by the civil society for

various applications. The UAV can perform various tasks such as search and rescue, traffic

inspection, aerial photography, weather observation and much more. The UAVs can be

categorized as fixed -wing or vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft. The fixed-wing uses

forward acceleration to gain altitude, and vertical take-off and landing apply a vertical
acceleration. The fixed-wing UAV can fly with a high cruising speed, and it requires a runway

for take-off and landing. Fixed wing aircraft uses a single motor to generate a forward thrust.

On the other hand, VTOL system can have anywhere from one, four, six, or eight engines to

produce upward thrust. Also, the VTOL can perform a steady flight and have a less cruising

speed than the fixed -wing. In this research paper, the VTOL UAV is considered.

1.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION

A VTOL airplane has several rotors which are positioned selectively about the center of balance

so that it can hover in case one of these rotors failures. A steam propulsion unit drives each of

these rotors. The rotors and propulsion units are constructed such that they can be tilted about

their lateral axes from vertical lift positions to horizontal thrust positions while the airplane is in

flight. The working fluid for the propulsion is supplied from two or more combustion centers

which are separated from the propulsion units, and which produce a high-pressure steam-

combustion product mixture at a constant pressure. The product is then routed to a pressure

system to power the individual propulsion units. In case one of the fuel combustion units fail, the

steam pressure requirements are provided for automatically by the remaining fuel combustion

units.

Many UAVs that have been in service, either in military or civil applications, are of the fixed-

wing type. Some of these UAVs that serve the U.S. military are MQ-Predator, RQ-2 Pioneer,

and, RQ-5 Hunter, and RQ-4 Global Hawk as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 (a)

Figure 1 (b)
The physical appearance and operation principles of these vehicles very much resemble an

ordinary aircraft. In particular, a runway is needed for take-off and landing, and it means a large

flat operational area is required.

However, in many circumstances the use of a trail for UAVs is impractical. For example in

military applications, conventional runways are often unavailable adjacent to the operational

military zone, or the available tracks are only for larger aircraft. In shipboard based UAVs

operations, the problem becomes worse since the available space for the onboard runway is

further reduced. While some of the military ships may have limited space for shipboard recovery,

this available space is usually entirely used by larger manned aircraft. To address this shipboard

problem, expensive recovery systems are often employed such as recovery nets, parachute

systems, deep stall landing, and in flight arresting devices. Another critical issue associated with

fixed-wing UAVs is that these vehicles are often unsuitable to operate efficiently in restricted

airspace and area. This becomes evident in urban settings where the use of a runway is not

possible, and UAVs are usually required to fly at a relatively low speed and altitude. The limited

operational flexibility of fixed-wing UAVs has led to the development of VTOL UAVs. The term

VTOL stands for vertical takeoff and landing which is self-explanatory. By having VTOL

capability, the problems mentioned above of runway needs and shipboard recovery systems are

addressed. The unneeded runway means the vehicle has greater freedom in its operational

environment. As such, this type of UAV can be deployed from virtually any place, as long as

minimal clear space is available for take-off and landing. Furthermore, VTOL UAVs can hover,

which is an important flying characteristic in the confined territory. In general, the VTOL UAV is

acquiring the performance and motion flexibility of a helicopter. Being able to hover and land in

small areas makes a VTOL UAV valuable for surveillance tasks, in that it can land in an area of
interest, shut off the engine, becoming a stationary sensor platform until it needs to fly again.

Among the early designs of a VTOL UAV is the QH-50 shown in Figure 2.2(a).

Figure 2 (a)

Figure 2 (b)
Developed by the US Navy, this remotely piloted UAV was designed for anti-submarine warfare

attack capabilities through the use of a drone torpedo delivery platform. The principal benefit of

the coaxial rotor configuration is it offers the same aerodynamic efficiency and controllability for

flight in any direction.

In this rotor configuration, the dissymmetry of lift on the first rotor is canceled by the

corresponding increase in lift on the other rotor. This would result in a vehicle that can fly faster

than a single-rotor design, and is more stable in extreme parts of the flight envelope. However,

the coaxial flapping rotor design increases mechanical complexity of the rotor hub, and also

gives weight penalty. The linkages and swash plates for two rotor discs need to be assembled

around the rotor shaft, which itself is more complex because of the need to drive two rotor discs

in opposite directions. These disadvantages are also true for the single rotor unmanned helicopter

such as the UAV shown in Figure 2.2(b). The complexity in the mechanical linkages is even

further increased in the single rotor UAV. This is because the blades have to be flipped to solve

the dissymmetry of lift on the rotating blades, and usually needs an extra tail fan to cancel the

torque developed by the main rotor. Adapting a helicopter configuration also means that the UAV

has to use a very complicated cyclic and collective rotor control. A study by the US Marine

Corps has concluded that single rotor unmanned helicopters are more expensive, less reliable,

and offered no advantage to manned helicopters

1.2 OBJECTIVES

To study VTOL UAV and the working the principle.

2.0 WORKING PRINCIPLE OF THE VTOL UAV

2.1 Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL)

The VTOL aircraft include the planes that can hover, take off and land vertically, as well as

helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as tilt rotors.

To take off or land vertically, powerful exhaust streams from the jet engine are directed

downward and backward. The direction of these streams can be changed in mid-flight.

As a result, fixed wing aircraft like the Harrier can take off vertically, fly forward and land

vertically. They can also take off and land like a normal airplane. The spinning co-axial blades

create thrust like a large propeller, but the thrust is directed vertically. This allows the vehicle to

take off and land vertically and to hover. To move forward, the vehicle tilts slightly to direct

some of its thrust forward.

2.2 Forward Propulsion of the VTOL UAV

Thrust is the force that propels the engine and, therefore, the airplane forward. Sir Isaac Newton

discovered that for "every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." An engine uses this

principle. The engine takes in a large volume of air. The engines move the airplane forward with

a great force that is produced by a massive thrust which causes the plane to fly very fast. The

engine works by sucking air in at the front using a fan. A compressor raises the pressure and thus

the temperature of the air. The compressor has many blades which spin at high speed and

compress the air. After compressing the air, it is then sprayed with fuel, and an electric spark is

used to light the gaseous mixture. The combusting gasses expand blast through the back of the

engine via the nozzle. The jets of gas shoot backward thus creating action and reaction forces

which cause the engine and aircraft thrust forward. The hot gasses passes through a turbine

attached to the same shaft as the compressor. Spinning the turbine prompts the compressor to

turn. The air goes to the core of the engine and around the core. As a result, the temperature of
some of the air increases and some to be cooler. The cooler air mixes with the hot air at the

engine exit area.

Figure 3 how the air flows through an engine

Parts of the engine which perform various roles include.

Figure 4: part of the engine

Fan - is the first component in a turbofan which sucks in large quantities of air. It then speeds

this air up and splits it into two parts. One portion goes to the core or center of the engine, where
it is acted upon by the other engine components. The second portion bypasses the center of the

engine. It goes through a duct surrounding the core of the engine to produce the force that

propels the airplane forward. The cooler air helps to reduce engine noise.

Compressor - is the first component in the engine core. It is made up of fans with many blades.

The compressor compresses the air resulting in high pressure. Thus the energy potential of the air

increases. The compressed air is the charged into the combustion chamber ready for combustion.

Combustor - this is the part where the air is mixed with fuel and then ignited. This provides

airflow with high temperatures and thus with high-energy. The air-fuel mixture burns to produce

hot expanding gasses.

Turbine - air flow from the combustion chamber goes into the turbine which causes the turbine

blades to rotate. This rotation takes some energy from the high-energy flow that is used to drive

the fan and the compressor thus reducing the temperature of the gas.

Nozzle - is the exhaust duct of the engine. It produces the thrust for the VTOL UAV. The airflow

energy wasted when passing the turbine, in addition to the colder air that bypasses the engine

core, produces a force when exiting. The force acts to propel the engine, and thus the airplane

moves forward. The nozzle may have a mixer to combine the high-temperature air coming from

the engine core with the lower temperature air that was bypassed in the fan. The mixer helps to

reduce engine noise.

3.0 FLIGHT CONTROL THEORY

3.1 Yaw Control

The yaw motion is controlled by programmed set rudders to move concurrently after receiving

the signal. The effect of torque from the counter-clockwise motion of the propeller causes the

body of the UAV to rotate anti-clockwise (about the Z-axis), causing the UAV to yaw. To counter

the inherent yaw motion due to the moving propellers, the rudders must be activated at an angle

at its default trim position.

Figure 5: yaw top view

3.2 Pitch Control

The pitch motion (about the Y-axis) is controlled by two out of four flaps and four rudders,

which have been programmed to activate in a particular orientation to cause the motion, as

shown. With the Center of Gravity (CG) on the midline of the UAV, the top two flaps move in
opposite directions to the bottom rudders to create a torquing effect, thereby allowing the UAV to

pitch in the desired direction.

Figure 6: Side view

3.3 Roll Control

Roll motion of the UAV is same as that of pitch movement as the UAV is constructed

symmetrically along the x-axis and y-axis.

3.4 Electronic speed controller

The electronic speed controller (ESC) is a device used to control the UAVs speed and to provide

it with three phase electric power and to AC. A series of signals is sent to the engine which then

controls its speed.

CONCLUSION
From this research paper VTOL UAV were examined. VTOL were found to be the aircrafts

which can take off and land vertically. For the VTOL UAV take off or land vertically, powerful

exhaust streams from the jet engine are directed downward and backward. The direction of these

streams can be changed in mid-flight. The spinning co-axial blades create thrust like a large

propeller, but the thrust is directed vertically. This allows the vehicle to take off and land

vertically and to hover. To move forward, the vehicle tilts slightly to direct some of its thrust

forward. When the vehicle is operation remote controls are used to control it by executing series

of programs.

4.0 REFERENCE

1. https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/UEET/StudentSite/engines.html

2. Chia Yong Han Timothy, Spherical VTOL UAV structure, and aerodynamics

3. Andrew Ong, Spherical VTOL UAV Propulsion, and Control Systems

4. http://www.flightgear.org/tours/vertical-takeoff-and-landing/

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra-rotating_propellers

6. http://howthingsfly.si.edu/propulsion/vertical-flight

7. http://www.patents.com/us-4093155.html