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Old 10-23-2012, 07:59 PM   #1
morgman
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Human Powered Helicopter - Armchair Engineers Welcome!
Q: What is 100 feet across, weighs 80 pounds, and probably costs more than the $250,000 prize its makers are chasing?

A: The human powered helicopter.
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Old 10-23-2012, 08:09 PM   #2
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Was watching that yesterday. Super impressive. I am sure they will get it someday. Hard to believe that there are no flight controls.

Where do you think the $250000 goes if they win?
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Old 10-23-2012, 08:51 PM   #3
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Hookers and blow. Obviously.
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Old 10-23-2012, 09:36 PM   #4
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very cool!

(looks like a trek)
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Old 10-23-2012, 10:06 PM   #5
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They just need Lance and some EPO.
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Old 10-23-2012, 11:13 PM   #6
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A Track Cyclist and Flight controls.

Power + Control = Victory

I also see spots where they can drill out some more styrofoam ;-)
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Old 10-23-2012, 11:16 PM   #7
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throw Sam Whittingham in there and you'd be flying in no time...
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Old 10-23-2012, 11:18 PM   #8
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You can see that the pilots eventually start to lose the smoothness of their stroke, and I think that contributes to the instability on descent. Cool engineering problem, though!
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Old 10-24-2012, 12:46 AM   #9
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Cool... A centre of gravity shift type of control like a hang glider might be the answer.
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Old 10-24-2012, 01:22 AM   #10
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Most cyclists are trained to have smooth pedal strokes with their feet not their hands, and especially not both at the same time.

Time to find a way to multiply what is happening with the feet and eliminate the hand crank system.

Maybe a fitter stronger human of similar weight?
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Old 10-24-2012, 01:51 AM   #11
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Put the rider on top of the pedals so he can use his weight to his advantage. Recumbents are good for cutting through the wind but they are crappy hill climbers.
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Old 10-24-2012, 04:16 AM   #12
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Perhaps a brake on each rotor to limit it's lift in relation to the others, controlled by a gyroscope or even an ipod touch accelerometer with software to control the braking - like traction control only... lift control... yeah. Loose the hand crank thing, gear it up and use upper body power through the legs with something to grip. And obviously Lance needs a new job.
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Old 10-24-2012, 04:16 AM   #13
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They need to tether it until they figure out how to keep it from drifting, silly engineers.
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Old 10-24-2012, 05:41 AM   #14
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Below is one physics bloggers estimate of the power required.

Now, what about the power? All I have to do is to put my values into the power formula (along with the air speed of 1.68 m/s) and I get 755 Watts – just over 1 horse power. A quick reminder. I have assumed everything is perfectly efficient. I suspect the actual power requirement could be over 1000 watts. Is this a human accessible power? According to Wikipedia, the maximum power output for elite cyclists is around 2,000 watts (of course for very short periods). But overall, this seems like a plausible thing to get working.

The 'other' team from Toronto that is currently trying to accomplish the same feet have a high level speed skater to pilot their craft who is supposedly capable of putting out the 755 Watts for a minute plus. Problem is he weighs 30 or so pounds more than the test pilots from Maryland.

Proposed Solution: Turf the hand crank (which supposedly adds 10 - 20% power over pedal only), introduce gearing to the pedal crank and find the strongest, well trained biker (smooth strokes) that weighs less than 125 pounds. My guess is weight and max. power output of pilot is currently preventing them from achieving height and thrashing/poor technique is putting the helicopter into motion allowing it to drift away.
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Old 10-24-2012, 06:09 AM   #15
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what about using a rider spun flywheel/clutch?

Spin the shit out of it, and then let it spool up the rotors? then just pedal away to keep the flywheel reasonably charged for your min or whatever.

done.
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