Specialists of the Novosibirsk State Technical University NETI — employees of the student design bureau of the Faculty of Aircraft presented an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of lifting loads up to 100 kilograms.
The Sarma drone is designed to work in three areas: agriculture, long-distance cargo transportation and monitoring of extended objects: borders, pipelines, coastline, etc. The carrying capacity of the vehicle is up to 100 kilograms, however, there is a technical possibility to design an aircraft of greater carrying capacity — using technologies that have been developed at NSTU NETI. "According to the totality of the characteristics, there does not exist any vehicles of such a kind for civilian use in Russia, this is our absolute novelty," said Ilya Zverkov, professor of the Department of Aircraft and Helicopter Engineering of the Faculty of Aircraft Engineering.
The main advantage of the UAV is high energy efficiency. For implementation, a wing with a large elongation is required, but it is necessary to exclude the danger of the wing entering the corkscrew mode. In solving this difficult task, the achievements of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics SB RAS were used.
As a result, the developed drone has a wavy wing profile — this structural property increases the safety of aircraft operation and improves its take-off and landing characteristics. The innovative shape of the wing required new technological solutions, this task was solved by students and teachers of NSTU NETI. The essence of technological novelty is that, by analogy with living organisms (birds), the aircraft has a rigid power frame made of aluminum alloys, which is surrounded by a less durable, but more malleable plastic skin. The load-bearing frame for various device modifications remains virtually unchanged, and the plastic body kit can be changed depending on the customer's tasks. The engineers focused on ensuring that the materials used in the construction were cheap, affordable and recyclable. The developed technologies will allow the construction of heavier UAVs with a payload of up to 500 kg.
Another important feature of the drone is a hybrid power plant, which will also be manufactured at NSTU NETI. The internal combustion engine together with the electric motor helps to easily take off and gain altitude, and during the main part of the flight only a low-power internal combustion engine works. Thus, in general, without increasing the weight of the power plant, it is possible to increase its efficiency and reliability.
"The key competencies in the creation of "Sarma" are collected on the basis of NSTU NETI. The design of the aircraft is handled by the Department of Aircraft and Helicopter Engineering, the motor generator is handled by the Department of Electromechanics, the power electronics unit is handled by the Department of Electronics and Electromechanics, and the autopilot is handled by the Department of Automated electric drive. We managed to unite all the specialists within the framework of the Priority 2030 program. NSTU NETI justifiably has ambitions to become a key actor in the creation of a UAV research and production center in the Novosibirsk Region," said Artur Otto, Vice-Rector for Research.
"The large payload capacity, the shape of the wing, the hybrid powerplant — this is what makes our development an aircraft that has no analogues not only in Russia, but also abroad," Ilya Zverkov added.
Today, unmanned aerial vehicles are actively used in a variety of industries. In the near future, the Novosibirsk State Technical University NETI will become one of the sites of the research and production center for producing drones in the Novosibirsk region. The center will be engaged in the design of UAVs with one hundred percent localization of domestic developments as part of components. To accomplish this task, NSTU NETI has teams of specialists in aircraft construction, power electronics, electromechanics, IT, radio electronics, as well as developments in the field of creating electric motors for UAVs and domestic software.