The Thopter Foundry

June 13th, 2023

By: Vincent Lam

The Ornithopter’s entire drive system must be optimized primarily through power drawn by each individual motor in order to generate thrust, while maximizing its time of flight. There are also some other concerns in optimizing the propulsion system, such as the motors reaching critical temperatures, the ESCs potentially blowing up, and maintaining a stable velocity. Starting from scratch, we only knew that motors, ESCs, and motors existed, but we did not know how to optimally pair each of them. So, we started with eCalc.com and inputted various combinations of these components, including propeller blade dimensions, and the results may be found in the propulsion report. 

Until next time, friends!