Design and construction of a Light Aircraft for a 20 HP engine. |
24 Apr 04 |
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Further investigations into the airfoil selection are creating concerns about the
fact that this airfoil is only 6 inches thick and we are trying for a 36 foot
wing span. May need a deeper airfoil. 6 inches it not much thickness
for a beam 36 feet long with a pilot hanging from it and an engine pushing it
through the air at 80 mph.. |
In this part of the site you can watch my good friend Pat K. and I build a light
airplane for which detailed plans and materials will be available to the general
public. Those parts that are hard to make will also be available. The discovery of the Military Standard 4A032 air cooled engine opened up a whole new set of possibilities as regards the design and fabrication of light home built aircraft for recreational purposes. My friend Pat K. and I are journeymen engineers and designers. We decided we would try our hand at designing a light aircraft using the latest materials and techniques. This is made possible by a number of factors among them the most important ones are: 1. The availability of Pro-E the most fantastic modeling software you can imagine. Some of the drawing we will put on the net are in Pro-E and you can download a viewer from the Pro-E web site. We will provide instructions with the drawings. 2. The availability of a light and powerful engine, the 4A032. 3. The availability of light weight high strength composite materials. 4. The need to have a truly challenging project. The initial design specifications of the project are as follows General description Motor glider Wing span 36 feet Wing chord 4 feet Weight of aircraft 600 lbs with pilot and fuel Pilot weight 200 lbs Fuel 20 lbs Type of tail V tail Body Semi-Pod with tail boom Engine location Pusher high behind pilot Control Stick control Controlled surfaces "V" Tail, Ailerons, (Flaps maybe) Airfoil Flat bottom and skinny. The Clark "Y" Engine 4A032, 20 hp at 3000 rpm Propeller 48 x 24 inch Materials used Wood, composites, high strength fibers, aluminum Proto concept aircraft Early Piper J3s The Heath parasol LN Various home builts Modern high performance gliders What others are going Things we learned from model control line and RC planes 07 Mar 04 The Clark Y has tentaively been selected as the airfoil. Turns out that the airfoil for the J3 the _____ is almost identical to the Clark Y. We will build a model at 1 inch to the foot for flight testing. This is the first thing that has to be designed I will build an 8 or 16 foot section of full size wing for destructive testing. This will also be used to prove our ideas about aileron design and flaps. Nida in Florida makes some nice high strength composite panels that we will use for the wings. Spars Ribs, etc. Pod will be fiberglass or carbon fiber composite. 04 Apr 04 |
VERY PRELIMINARY IDEAS FOR PUSHER, MOTOR GLIDER. AN INCH TO THE FOOT MODEL
IS THE NEXT THING TO BE BUILT, TO SEE HOW WELL IT FLIES. |
THIS WILL HAVE A 3 DEGREE DIHEDRAL THAT COULD NOT GET DRAWN IN PRO E WITH MY
PRESENT SKILL LEVEL. |
24 Apr 04 |