Development of Variable Pitch Wing Attached Multicopter as Vertical Take-off and landing aircraft

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K06952
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Aerospace engineering
• Research Institution: National Institute of Technology, Kumamoto College
• Principal Investigator: Kiyoteru Hayama 熊本高等専門学校, 拠点化プロジェクト系地域協働プロジェクトグループ, 教授 (00238148)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 入江 博樹 熊本高等専門学校, 拠点化プロジェクト系グローバルリーダーシップ育成グループ, 教授 (70249887)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 垂直離着陸機 / 主翼付きマルチコプター / カイト翼 / ティルトローター / ドローン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Multicopters can take off and land vertically and can hover in the air, but their power consumption is large and their flight time is limited. On the other hand, though the fixed-wing aircraft has an advantage of wide range of flight area, it cannot hover in the air and takes a runway field to take-off and landing.
In this study, new concept VTOL based on variable pitch wing attached multicopter is developed. Continuous transition from multicopter to similar to fixed-wing aircraft can be done with adjusting suitable angle of attack of the wing of multicopter. The stability and low power consumption of the fuselage were investigated. A kite wing attached multicopter which are more portable and less affected by wind during takeoff and landing, and a tilt-rotor aircraft were also built and compared.

Free Research Field

マイクロコンピュータ工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

無人航空機（ドローン)は空撮目的から測量・点検に用いられるようになり，今後は物流でも重要な働きを持つようになっていく．従来型のマルチコプターを利用した物流の実証試験が行われており，今後は省電力長距離飛行が可能な機体が望まれる．本研究の成果はマルチコプターの利便性と固定翼機の省電力性能を併せ持つ中距離輸送用の無人航空機の選択肢を提案できたと考えている．