Frame Structure

Hexacopter Layout

FlyRider is a 6 motor multicopter (hexacopter) which is capable of lifting a person and let it fly for several minutes. Why a hexacopter? My calculation showed that a Qaudcopter configuration would have resulted in higher costs for motors, ESCs and propellers than a hexcopter configuration.

Let's be clear: A multicopter is an extremely inefficient flying machine, since lift is generated by the propellers alone. Much more efficient are VTOL concepts which use lift from wings in forward flight, but these are also much harder to build because you have to control the extremely unstable transition from hover to normal flight and back.

In hexacopters, three propellers rotate clockwise and two counterclockwise. As a result, the torques transmitted by the propellers to the aircraft cancel each other out. The rotation of the multicopter around the vertical axis (yaw) is achieved by running the left- and right-turning propellers at different speeds. Rotations about the longitudinal axis (roll) or transverse axis (pitch) are achieved by controlling the motors on the other axis differently. The speed of the counterclockwise and clockwise motors must be changed in inverse proportion so that the sum of the torques generated by them remains the same.

Frame

The main frame is made of 40x40x3 mm aluminum tubes which are screwed together with M8 screws. The undercarriage and the safety cage for the pilot are glued from PVC pipes. These pipes are not only very cheap, but also very strong and extremely light. In addition, they are easy to process.