British engineer Tom Stanton has constructed a 3D printed fixed-wing plane weighing 15.6 grams, and which is powered by a single 10 farad supercapacitor charged by way of a hand crank generator. Stanton achieved 45 seconds of flight from roughly 4 seconds of winding.
The design includes printing wing rib constructions instantly onto tissue paper mounted to a magnetic construct plate, bonding the skeleton and masking. The fuselage backbone is made up of a carbon fiber rod, with friction-fit printed elements securing the wing and tail meeting.
An unmodified glider model of the airframe weighed 3.8 grams and outperformed a folded paper airplane in direct comparability testing. The powered model used a brushed micro motor typical of small toy quadcopters, with an enlarged propeller to compensate for the supercapacitor’s 2.7-volt output. An analog voltmeter between the generator and capacitor prevented overcharging.
Stanton’s evaluation of single-cell supercapacitors recognized 10 farads because the optimum trade-off between vitality density and weight. A 100 farad cell provided six occasions the vitality density of a 1 farad cell however weighed 20 grams — too heavy for the airframe — whereas the ten farad unit’s approximate 3 gram mass hit the effectivity candy spot.
An early long-chord wing failed in flight as a consequence of inadequate torsional stiffness, folding upward below aerodynamic load. A revised, shorter-chord, larger facet ratio design lowered twisting moments by transferring the middle of strain nearer to the structural heart.
Tissue paper masking proved moisture-sensitive; at -2°C (28°F), absorbed mist precipitated the wing to lose structural integrity by the third flight try.
