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N. V. S. S. Sagar et al.
1 Introduction
The research in the area of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) (also known as drones) is
significantly increasing due to its huge potentiality in discrete applications. Usually,
the aerodynamic performance of the drone depends both on its mass and shape.
Of all the types of UAVs, owing to its need for less regulation, quadcopters with
four motors and four propellers are widely used. Hence, it is aimed to design a
lightweight quadcopter structure by integrating the concepts of design optimization,
topology optimization and fused deposition modelling.
In the first stage of optimization, design optimization is carried out to identify the
optimum set of input parameters that define the shape and mass of the quadcopter
viz., shell thickness, frame height and arm width using Design of Experiments (DoE).
Non-dominated Sorted Genetic Algorithm (NSGA) is used to identify the optimum
set of parameters. Eventually, in the second stage, the mass is further optimized using
topology optimization. The geometry obtained from topology optimization is rough
and uneven. Hence, the model is modified and validated before fabrication. Because
of its advantages like time compression [1] and design flexibility [2], widely used
additive manufacturing technology Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) [3] is used.
Entire design procedure is presented in the flow chart given in Fig. 1.
Design of light weight quadcopter structural frame
Initial design
FE analysis
Design Optimization (DoE)
FE analysis for design validation
Topology Optimization
FE analysis for design validation
Fabrication using FDM
Fig. 1 Flow chart for multistage optimization
N. V. S. S. Sagar et al.
1 Introduction
The research in the area of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) (also known as drones) is
significantly increasing due to its huge potentiality in discrete applications. Usually,
the aerodynamic performance of the drone depends both on its mass and shape.
Of all the types of UAVs, owing to its need for less regulation, quadcopters with
four motors and four propellers are widely used. Hence, it is aimed to design a
lightweight quadcopter structure by integrating the concepts of design optimization,
topology optimization and fused deposition modelling.
In the first stage of optimization, design optimization is carried out to identify the
optimum set of input parameters that define the shape and mass of the quadcopter
viz., shell thickness, frame height and arm width using Design of Experiments (DoE).
Non-dominated Sorted Genetic Algorithm (NSGA) is used to identify the optimum
set of parameters. Eventually, in the second stage, the mass is further optimized using
topology optimization. The geometry obtained from topology optimization is rough
and uneven. Hence, the model is modified and validated before fabrication. Because
of its advantages like time compression [1] and design flexibility [2], widely used
additive manufacturing technology Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) [3] is used.
Entire design procedure is presented in the flow chart given in Fig. 1.
Design of light weight quadcopter structural frame
Initial design
FE analysis
Design Optimization (DoE)
FE analysis for design validation
Topology Optimization
FE analysis for design validation
Fabrication using FDM
Fig. 1 Flow chart for multistage optimization