Ducted Fan Drone

Published on 20 May 2022. Written by Dineshkumar E

Nowadays drones are used in almost all the fields, from this article, you will get an idea to fabricate a ducted fan drone. Ducted fans have the advantage of producing more thrust than a conventional propeller with the same diameter. Ducted fans are silent when compared to the conventional propellers and have reduced blade tip losses which increases efficiency.

Ducted fan drones can be easily operated in indoors or can be flown near to the people. Conventional drones (with propeller) may hurt people or the propellers might get damaged during the indoor flight.

Ducted fan drones are powered using brushless motor and control surfaces (Rudders) are used to move the drone in desired directions.

Project Implementation:

First, decide the approximate weight of the drone and choose the motor based on the thrust requirement. For example, if the drone all-up weight is 500g take the thrust to weight ratio as 2:1 i.e., twice the amount of drone weight. Choose a motor that is capable of producing 1000g of thrust. If you are planning to carry any payload using the drone add the required amount of payload to the drone all up weight. Following are the components required to build the drone:

3D Printed ducted frame: Design and 3D print the frame as per the requirement which is the fastest and easy method to build the frame.

Brushless motor: Brushless motors are electrical motors with high RPM compared to the normal Brushed DC motors.

Propellers: Propellers convert the rotational motion into thrust. Choose the propeller with a proper dimension which is suggested by the motor manufacturer.

Electronic Speed Controller: Electronic speed controllers are used to control the speed of the Brushless motors based on the input given by the user. ESC also contains BEC (Battery Eliminator Circuit) that eliminates the current from the battery to all the other circuits.

Transmitter and Receiver: Transmitter (TX) is used to transmit the signal through radio waves and Receiver (RX) which is placed on the drone receives the signal transmitted by the transmitter and controls the drone based on the signal.

Servo motor: It is used to move the control surface (Rudder and Aileron) in the desired direction.

Flight Controller: It reduces the complexity of controlling the drone. The flight controller is integrated with the Inertial Measurement Unit to achieve a stable flight. IMU consists of Gyroscope and Accelerometer sensor which helps in leveling the drone. You can use the readymade flight controllers like KK 2.1.5, Pixhawk, KK blackboard, etc.

Install all the electronics components, do the zero settings and calibrate the accelerometer and gyroscope sensors then you are good to go. Ducted fan drones have advantages like, safe for indoor operation, less cost when compared to other multi rotors, more flight time, etc.

Kit required to develop Ducted Fan Drone:

Technologies you will learn by working on Ducted Fan Drone:

Ducted Fan Drone

Any Questions?

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