Application of electro-active materials to a coaxial-rotor NAV

Abstract

A new Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) configuration based on a coaxial nano rotor has been studied by ISAE. The coaxial rotor provides the thrust necessary for hovering and low speed translation flight. The major design challenge for rotary-wing NAVs is related to the difficulty of miniaturizing complex mechanisms such as a rotor cyclic pitch swashplate commonly used for controlling helicopters. The use of actuators made of smart materials is believed to allow for controlling rotary-wing NAVs in a much simpler and lighter way. The multidisciplinary subject of this complete system is separated into few parts. The studies of each subject are individually conducted before integrated in the future in order to optimize the global system. Those studies which are being carried out are shortly described in this paper.