Preliminary Design: The Safe Drones

PRELIMINARY DESIGN

The information contained in this section outlines the thought process of designing a custom frame, the

electronics and mechanical components involved in the proposed initial Parachute Drone.

The iteration of the drone will feature Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipes as the drone arms in a

quadcopter configuration, connected in the center by a four-way PVC pipe connector to ensure that the

arms are at right angles form another as well as being able to be held firmly together without loose parts.

We found out in the prototyping process that there were two different types of piping commonly available in Singapore, plumbing and electrical. Plumbing pipes tend to be thicker and heavier while electrical pipes end to be thinner and lighter. In the beginning, we made the mistake of purchasing plumbing pipes that did not have four-way connectors and resulted in having to make a four-way connector out of two two-way connectors, which was no as rigid when flying.

The intent for placing the airtight box containing the electronics below the main arm structure was to

ensure that the arms had additional support during flight, and to maximize the horizontal thrust on the

water surface when it is deployed on a water body.

The drone is designed to be fully waterproof to the rating of IP68. IP is an International Protection Rating as defined in the International Standard International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 60529, rated as “dust tight” and protected against complete and continuous submersion in water. The waterproof housing will be submerged into water and it is hence paramount that the drone is completely waterproof.

Broken joints from uneven and small glueing surface area

Final flying prototype of PVC test drone