Mark 3 & 4 Landing Gear Design

The Mark III landing gear design includes an extended arm, longer suspensions, as well as an extended pivot arm with a wheel attachment. The main purpose for redesigning the landing gear was mainly to cater for the extended height of the new drone, as well as to accommodate the gimbal & camera. The landing gears were also made wider, not only for better stability but to also ensure that it will not block the camera’s field of view underneath the drone. The wheels are not for rolling, (as there would be no control over them), but are simply there to replace the vibration dampers. Like in a real life car system, the wheels act as the unsprung mass, and the damping properties of the rubber tires help play a role in the overall suspension system.

Due to design constraints coming from the 3D printer, designing holders for the vibration dampers would be futile, as the small holders’ printing would be inefficient and poor, with the support structure too difficult and unnecessary to remove. Therefore, the wheels are there to serve as an additional shock absorber of unsprung mass, and to also have a grip on the ground.

The relatively simple design was modelled after an existing drone arm, and the structure was designed slightly wider apart rather than straight down so that it may take a higher load and could offer better stability, along with providing height & elevation for the gimbal & camera mounted beneath the drone.

The landing gears for this new elongated design shall be drop tested shortly during this week. Any updates shall be posted in the upcoming blog post. Stay tuned!\

Sincerely,

Ryan

Invictus Mechanical Engineer