Hoverpod project

Not alot of new has been posted From Entecho with regard o the hoverpod project, however

Target Drones

A significant order was placed last month for more target drones from one of our clients.

Although we can't show images and get into details at this time, we can say these particular unmanned aircraft have an all composite airframe, with a single micro jet turbine as a power plant resulting in a seriously fast and manoeuvrable aircraft.

New weapons for Bladerider

In order for Bladerider to remain at the front of the fleet for the upcoming world titles to be held in the USA in August, a new round of R&D and on water testing has been underway.

Composite Components has been designing and testing using CAD and CFD a raft of new shapes and foil designs for the hydrofoil element of the sailing boats.

With the benefit of accurate CNC rapid prototyping of the foils - a first for International Moth component manufacture - we are seeing just how important on water testing is, over just purely computer based analysis.

Some amazing results are being posted by Rohan Veal (Bladerider team member and multiple world/national champion) on his website http://www.rohanveal.com/ with upwind boat speeds not usually seen by any sailing boat.

Progress is ensured to continue right up to the start of the world titles on multiple component design fronts to ensure that the last few percent are dragged out of each of the new designs.

Architectural mouldings

Composite components announces contract to manufacture architectural mouldings for construction of public buildings valued at around $1 million.

Work has been completed on CAD modelling and component manufacture is about to begin for this prestigious construction within Perth City.

Further details will be posted during the construction period.

Deep Sea ROV

Earlier this month we finished work on a floatation unit for a Deep sea ROV. It involved sourcing and building the large block, getting it CNC machinied, hand finishing and then co-ordinating the sealing and painting. The images here are of the test article, however the real unit made of >300kg/per cubic metre density foam will be capable of handling depths of over 1000m, were it will be subjected to prolonged pressures of over 1437 psi or 9907 kpa.

This is our first work for TMT and their underwater remotely operated vehicles, and we are excited to have made a contribution to their project in this demanding field.

Wing mast

This week we made the new composite wing mast for the whisper project.

This mast was a true composite, made of 6 different fabrics and materials. It is an improvement on the first, better suited to the application of a free standing over-rotating wing mast.

To estimate time of the launch, I am aiming for about a month pending work load and little things like family and getting a sail made. There hardly seems a rush, the hull was made over the Easter of 2007, fitted out and bonded Xmas of 2008. What is it they say about mechanics and their cars?

I've enjoyed this build, its experimental in a lot of areas and this has pushed me into engineering, CAD modelling, design and analysis much further than I thought I would go. With all the hard work behind the scenes, It seems unlikely I'll sell this boat, let alone its taken 4 years to replace the last one, now with kids...

I am looking forward to getting it wet, photos will follow....

UAV's in Thailand

Some photos of the Cybereye 2 sold to the Royal Thai Air force have filtered back to us.

The aircraft have had a succession of flights, and training exercises. Performance has been improved from the initial prototype, increasing the top speed to 160kph and while reducing the stall speed. By first hand accounts the new design composite wings have made the big difference to the aircraft.

Avalon Airshow report

Just back from the Airshow at Avalon Airport, Melbourne. For my first visit to the show I was certainly kept busier than expected.

Our work was represented by Air Affairs, Cybertechnologies, DSTO, Entecho and UAV Vision.
Air Affairs had their Phoenix Target drone on display.

Cybertechnologies had a full stand with cybereye 2 & cybird 5 (#3) fully assembled.
DSTO had Cybird 5 (#2) on display with their 'Bioseeker' hardware installed in the nosecone under a clear hatch for all to see.


Entecho were showing 2 'Mupod' hovering micro UAV's and UAV Vision had their suite of cameras on show

For us it was good to see our work getting out there as well as having a look at what the competition are up to. The usual suspects were there Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop etc. but the coup was Cybertechnologies trumping them all to win best stand at the show!

Now its all over, the dust will settle and we will see what comes of all those meetings, I can say though that I had a great time and I look forward to attending the next show.

published!

Cybereye 2 makes it onto this months front cover of Unmanned vehicles.

It's a great achievement, and with good feedback from subsequent flight tests we are sure it wont be last time cybereye appears on a front page.

Planes & boats

More planes left the factory in the last few months, we finished another "Cybird 5" to complete the order, although we are a little concerned about the experience of their pilot!

Another "Phoenix" target drone made its way to the client, and 2 wing sets for the "Cybereye 2" UAV are destined for export in the coming months.

All this and I managed to squeeze in some time to work on the hydrofoil moth hull to have it almost completed.

So, after an extended (!) build time with pattern work starting in October 2005 we are nearing the moment when the boat will finally get wet. The Australian national titles are set for Perth this year in December/January, I have 10 months to get the boat finished and shake-out all the bugs... could be tight.

Lux at PICA

We are excited to have one of our Lux tables on exhibition at the Perth Institute for Contempoary Arts. The installation is part of the Better places Exhibition open from 3 Dec - 1 Feb and features artists work from all over Australia. www.pica.org.au/view/Better+Places/726/.

The particular work by Jurek Wybraniec is one of the larger pieces featuring a 2100 x 1100 carbon fibre Lux table - to give a sense of scale.

In the words of the artist , "the work explores a notion of the everyday and a desire to move out of that grounding situation. It explores the divide between high and low in art, design and architecture. These concerns and observations are not new but it is the quotidian and wishes of something materially “better” that resonates with me at the moment. The table is a fantastic example of a refined aesthetic and of engineering excellence, and a “design classic”. It’s something “better”. In the PICA artwork the table will be surrounded and supported by an inflated, carnivalesque structure which could be seen as its antithesis."

We had a great time attending the opening night and are proud to have our product included in this work.

Busy times

It has been a busy couple of months. We have delivered another UAV to cybertechnologies - (the second) cybird 5, with the remodeled intake and tailcone (refer earlier post) the new plane came in 5 kg lighter then the previous and standing out from the crowd in a high visibility orange.

Also underway are wingset patterns, moulds and parts for cybereye 2. A larger UAV with a wingspan of over 4 meters. The prototype has flown extremely well, and the new planes are due for flights in the new year.

Completed only today, is the first the carbon fibre wing mast for the 'whisper' International moth class project, the mast came out of the mould better than expected weighing 4kg for a 5.5m length, the overall stiffness of was impressive, considering the lightness of the laminate and surface area of the mast.

The complete boat is scheduled for completion before Xmas. Pending good results from sailing tests, a trip to Melbourne for the national titles in late January could be likely.

CFD for hydrofoils

We were asked by Bladerider http://www.bladerider.com.au/ earlier this month to gather some baseline lift/drag data on their current hydrofoils, we sent out 3D models of the foils for CFD (computational fluid dynamics) analysis and now have the results back.

The purpose of this primarily, is to establish were the current foils are in relation to performance at differing speeds and angles of attack. After getting the baseline data we can now set about improving the speed and handling of the boats by either tweaking the design or creating new designs. It's interesting stuff and another great application of CAD software.

Over time we will generate some definitive answers and have some prototypes out there for real world testing that will then flow into production for the bladerider range of sailing hydrofoil boats.

CAD revision

In a previous posting we mentioned the reworking of the 3 metre UAV CAD file. After a solid week of work we completely resolved the structural and mechanical layout of the plane and tweaked some of the components either aerodynamically or mechanically.

We reviewed the jet intake aero package and made significant changes to the tailfin/horizontal stabiliser arrangement to better suit a full composite assembly.

I've attached some renderings of the revised plane.

V8 Dirt Drag Bike

We are doing some more parts at the minute for Attitude racing's nitro harley and it reminded to me to ask, how was the V8 dirt drag bike going. It was a wicked looking machine like something out of MAD MAX.

We completed the bodywork for them and the bike performed really well, and I've just been told in the off months the guys have been re-tuning the motor to increase the power almost 600 horsepower! I've included a photo of the bike as it appeared last year.