E-volo has successfully flown its VC200 ‘Volocopter’, a vibration-free flying machine driven by 18 electric rotors .
Designed to carry two people, the VC200 is a vertical take-off and landing aircraft that requires no mechanical pitch control of the propellers and is claimed to be safer, simpler, and cleaner than normal helicopters.
The aircraft made its remotely-controlled maiden flight on November 17, 2013 in the dm-arena in Karlsruhe, Germany, and went onto complete nine flight tests that culminated in a flight at nearly 22m.
The E-Volo team says it is aiming for a serial production model capable of a cruising speed of at least 54kn (100km/h), a flight altitude of up to 6,500ft, a maximum take-off weight of 450kg, and over an hour of flight time made possible with a range extender.
It is nice to see an innovative approach in any field but this prototype seems to have an awful lot of circular-section struts. If I remember rightly they’re 10X the resistance of an aerofoil section and the reason biplanes and triplanes gave way to mono winged aircraft
If an aerofoil shape is wrong way to the flow direction it can also produce lift, which could move the vehicle sideways, or extra drag, over a circle. I suppose that flow visualization (or maybe better still small angle of attack sensors) could show the designers which directions of airfoil shapes are acceptable.
Aerofoil sections operate in one direction only. They are counter productive for vertical and rearward motion.
This machine is pretty good and if the range increases and the peripheral struts shrink it should be a winner.
Could I get price information and specification on Volocopter which is very unique and interested in ?
We would like to introduce for our market
South Korea.
Thank you.
Good concept, but let’s see it also hold the weight of a pilot and get off the ground. Also, that’s a lot of maintenance for such a small range craft.