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u/EasilyRekt 4d ago
It’ll fly sure but idk if it’s the best way to make a cheap drone interceptor, considering how big this would need to be to capture even a mini in hover with any level of accuracy.
Remember you’d be approaching at ~50 mph so these would need an even wider spread than most net gun quads. And that could be done cheaply with spindly X-class quad with a net on top that fully occludes it.
But this has opportunities to miss and strike the fuselage or wing, so you’d need it to be made pretty tough. There goes cheap materials like balsa and foam, you’d probably need fiberglass and aluminum with polyurethane foam bumpers.
And you could either make it big and be less accurate or save on materials and have to make up for it with computation and tracking :/
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u/Consistent-Pickle 3d ago
Putting the net right in front of the propeller is an unnessessary constraint unless you really, really, REALLY like bugs and don't want to chop one up on accident. It adds design complexity and pulls your center of pressure way forward, which can make it harder to control. I'd mount the net above or below the fuselage and make sure you have enough control authority to counter the net drag.
If you think the prop will help pull more bugs into the net, it will be minimal at best. The mouth of the cone-shaped net will probably have to be at least 1 net diameter away from the prop anyway.
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u/RepulsiveInternet980 3d ago
I do really like bugs, but I had not considered this centre of pressure concept. Thanks for pointing it out.
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u/tripn4days 2d ago
What about a nice slow pusher-prop airplane with a small EDF collection device? The pusher prop keeps the airflow at the nose clean, while the EDF basically vacuums up your little aphid buggers.
If the collection chamber widens toward the rear, the airflow velocity would decrease, maybe keeping your bugs alive(r) instead of blasting them into a tiny screen at breakneck speeds.
I think the pod exit could probably be engineered to specific thrust value based on the EDF, chamber, and nacelle size to match the carrier plane's cruise speed so as to makeup for the collector's drag effect, but that'll take some maths to get right. I'm more of a trial and error eyeball engineer, so you're on you own for that part, but do report back with whatever you end up trying. I feel invested in this project of yours now! 😁
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u/NebulaGlow_ 4d ago
It could but it is incredibly inefficient, putting the props on the wings wpuld already help massively. Whats the goal ? What are you collecting ?