Re:New Electric Drone Has Groundbreaking Flight Time
by perilunar on Monday September 17, 2018 @08:22AM
(#18005162)
I don't actually know if it's possible to autorotate a quadcopter. I imagine you would have very little control during the transition. Quadcopters don't fly very high anyway, so there's probably little to gain from it.
Re:New Electric Drone Has Groundbreaking Flight Time
by foobarbecue on Monday September 17, 2018 @09:08AM
(#18005547)
ESC electronics usually doesn't support this, but I've wanted to try for many years.
Re:New Electric Drone Has Groundbreaking Flight Time
by thx11389793 on Monday September 17, 2018 @12:10PM
(#18007209)
autorotation requires control of blade pitch.
Re:New Electric Drone Has Groundbreaking Flight Time
by perilunar on Tuesday September 18, 2018 @06:10AM
(#18013924)
It certainly does in helicopters, which have large, relatively heavy blades you really don’t want to stop turning.
In a quadcopter the blades a small and light, so you could conceivably stop them and let them turn them in reverse as the airflow changes direction (from downwards to up through the blades). I think there would be real problem with control during the transition, and you’d need a lot of height to make it worthwhile.
I'm only joking, but there might in fact be practical application of the concept.