Design and analysis of 3D printed UAV wheel

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles of group 1 category are small in size with Maximum Gross Take-off Weight between 0 and 20 lbs and normal operating altitude as 1200 AGL (Above Ground Level). Light weighting in aerial vehicles is one of the major concerns and is mostly favoured by the change in materials. Tyres used for UAVs are extensively made up of rubber and are quite heavy in weight thus rising a concern. These rubber tyres add to the dead weight during the flight and also adds to the drag. For this study, lightweight 3D – printed wheels for better performance and lesser drag during the flight are designed and analysed for the group I UAV vehicles. The target is to reduce the weight by 50%, to achieve this, a rigorous analysis was performed for choosing the best possible configuration using various 3D – printing materials like ABS, PLA, Nylon and Carbon fibre mix. Additive manufacturing commonly known as 3D – printing favours the production of high strength light weighing parts. It also offers a broader range of design selection and favours iterative design approach and thus was opted as the method of production. The iterative design approach was followed to obtain the best results. Wheels with 4, 5, and 6 spokes were considered for the study. The wheel designs were modelled in Solidworks and analysis was conducted in Ansys using Finite Element Analysis to study the static and dynamic strength of the wheel in the radial direction, ignoring the bending and torsion of wheels during landing. Furthermore, the Charpy impact test was conducted on the specimen to study the crack propagation on impact.