Design of an Altitude Compensating Carburetor for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Faculty Sponsor(s)
Jennifer Heath
Subject Area
Physics/Applied Physics
Description
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) engines can be used for several purposes, such as climate monitoring, forest fire containment, and agriculture. However, with changing altitudes a factor, the engine needs to be able to adjust the air/fuel mixture to continue being efficient during flight. Since this project is working off an existing design, there are limited options for the servo motor and carburetor to be placed. These components are responsible for the movement that opens and closes the throttle, which is an important action to keep the engine efficient. This design created two different rotating bodies that needed to be connected optimally by linkage, so that the throttle would fully open/close with a linear relationship between the servo motor and the throttle. This optimal length was found by studying mathematically as well as experimentally through the creation of the design on SolidWorks. The mathematical model provides an ‘ideal’ length, but the SolidWorks model provides valuable insight on the real-world mechanics of the design. The design allows for a tolerance of approximately ±14% difference between the ideal and real-world lengths that were determined.
Recommended Citation
Whitt, Ben, "Design of an Altitude Compensating Carburetor for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" (2021). Linfield University Student Symposium: A Celebration of Scholarship and Creative Achievement. Event. Submission 23.
https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/symposium/2021/all/23
Design of an Altitude Compensating Carburetor for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) engines can be used for several purposes, such as climate monitoring, forest fire containment, and agriculture. However, with changing altitudes a factor, the engine needs to be able to adjust the air/fuel mixture to continue being efficient during flight. Since this project is working off an existing design, there are limited options for the servo motor and carburetor to be placed. These components are responsible for the movement that opens and closes the throttle, which is an important action to keep the engine efficient. This design created two different rotating bodies that needed to be connected optimally by linkage, so that the throttle would fully open/close with a linear relationship between the servo motor and the throttle. This optimal length was found by studying mathematically as well as experimentally through the creation of the design on SolidWorks. The mathematical model provides an ‘ideal’ length, but the SolidWorks model provides valuable insight on the real-world mechanics of the design. The design allows for a tolerance of approximately ±14% difference between the ideal and real-world lengths that were determined.
