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Human Powered Helicopter — Parallax Forums

Human Powered Helicopter

ercoerco Posts: 20,260
edited 2011-05-15 10:29 in General Discussion
Girls pedals funky copter, which apparently cleared the ground barely & briefly for a first and a world record. Plenty of ground effect assist going on here!

http://news.yahoo.com/video/science-15749654/first-person-building-a-human-helicopter-25218118

@JonnyMac: I did resist the temptation to post this in your Prop forum...

Comments

  • doggiedocdoggiedoc Posts: 2,245
    edited 2011-05-13 15:15
    It would appear the design was made to capitalize on ground effect assist.
  • W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
    edited 2011-05-13 16:05
    It's been done before. I guess this time is different in that the right people were witnessing it to declare it a world record.

    http://www.HumanPoweredHelicopters.org/

    Rich H
  • $WMc%$WMc% Posts: 1,884
    edited 2011-05-13 16:13
    Why do the blades look like their upside-down?
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2011-05-13 16:16
    Well, if ground clearance is not an issue, how about trying human-powered electrostatic levitation?

    Think a person could generate enough static electricity to achieve lift-off via repulsion?

    I'm envisioning a bicycle type of system that rubs giant rotors of balloon material over acres of cat fur.

    I'm sure the kitties won't mind if they know it's for science.
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,568
    edited 2011-05-13 19:24
    Well, if ground clearance is not an issue, how about trying human-powered electrostatic levitation?

    Think a person could generate enough static electricity to achieve lift-off via repulsion?

    I'm envisioning a bicycle type of system that rubs giant rotors of balloon material over acres of cat fur.

    I'm sure the kitties won't mind if they know it's for science.

    You might be onto something.... About 12 years ago I built a 5 foot Van de Graaff generator. The main 'globe' was about 1 foot diameter while the ground return 'globe' was about 6 inches diameter attached to a 2 foot wooden dowel that I could 'safely' hold on to. (My best estimation was about 3/4 million volts with 1-2 foot arcs ... This assuming that the breakdown of air was somewhere between 1kV and 2kV per millimeter) When the Generator was charging up, there was so much attraction force between the globes with me at the other end of the wooden dowel, that it took almost all I had to keep them at a steady fixed distance to counter act the pull. I only had a 12V motor (<-- RC Airplane motor starter) turning the belt.
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2011-05-13 19:50
    Beau Schwabe (Parallax) wrote: »
    .... it took almost all I had to keep them at a steady fixed distance to counter act the pull. ....

    Sounds like a great competition for a Parallax UPNE or whatever. A Propeller can provide the control system and I bet Phil Pilgrim won't mind donating some cats to the cause.
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,568
    edited 2011-05-13 20:27
    "Sounds like a great competition for a Parallax UPNE or whatever." - it could be done, all of the parts can be had from the local hardware store and put together in a few hours. However, I wouldn't advise operating a computer within at least a 50 foot radius though. ... that includes micros of any kind ... I doubt many people would be happy if something like that got fired up in the middle of the EXPO while their stuff was running. I can't speak for any of Phil's donated cats that's another subject all together.

    I do think there is potential (pun intended) in electrostatic lift. Human powered? I don't know. The idea of the "Hover boards" from back to the future have always intrigued me... too bad you would need a power supply the size of the Delorean in order to accomplish it.
  • wjsteelewjsteele Posts: 697
    edited 2011-05-14 17:33
    Yeah... my Daughter made a Van deGraaff generator for a Jr. High science project... knocked out several of the surrounding students projects in the process (especially the wireless morse code machine right next door.) I knew it would happen but, ahem... forgot to mention it to her, still... it was funny as hell watching all the other kids scrambling during the judging. :-) Naturally, Her's worked perfectly!

    Bill
  • Spiral_72Spiral_72 Posts: 791
    edited 2011-05-14 18:58
    Wow, that's certainly not how I would have designed it, but there's a lot smarter people in the world than me. That looked like a lot of work for 1" high flight :)
  • UnknownUnknown
    edited 2011-05-14 19:47
    Beau Schwabe (Parallax) wrote: »
    I do think there is potential (pun intended) in electrostatic lift. Human powered? I don't know. The idea of the "Hover boards" from back to the future have always intrigued me... too bad you would need a power supply the size of the Delorean in order to accomplish it.

    There are products that charge wirelessly. I kind of remember a discussion of the like on the old board.
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,568
    edited 2011-05-15 10:29
    "There are products that charge wirelessly. I kind of remember a discussion of the like on the old board. " - See Corona Wind, Electrostatic wind, and Electrostatic motor... there are adequate electrostatic forces that if properly directed can produce work. I think though, to get something to 'lift' it's going to boil down to the charged surface area to weight ratio. Getting that aspect just right will be the tricky part. ... not to mention you will need some sort of 'backbone' for the electrostatic force to 'push' against. Doing so against the ground or 'earth' might be next to impossible, unless you can rapidly change the electrostatic field... (rotation? perhaps) ... the Idea is however, that if the 'vehicle plate' is of one polarity, then the ground will assume the opposite polarity. At that point if the vehicle plate can change it's polarity quickly or rotate an oppositely charged plate over the ground plate faster than the ground charge can dissipate, then you might be able to create some electrostatic lift of your vehicle.

    As far as charging something wirelessly, an anomaly such as a sharp point on a highly charged object will create a "Corona Wind" capable of lighting a fluorescent light several feet away depending on the amount of charge you have to begin with.
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