Design report Electrical part

The objective of electrical engineer was to design electrical circuit for operating the hovercraft and to make it
cheap as possible. At the beginning, it was important to figure out how the hovercraft will be operating, what
components will be used to do that, its capabilities and restrictions. It was told that hovercraft will have a remote
control by giving a signal waves from transmitter to receiver, which will convert them to electrical current and
distribute it between components and receiver will be feeding from 12V lithium battery. Initial design implied
two DC motors (one for giving lift and one for thrust) (Figure 5), two ESC speed regulators for each motor,
servomotor for turning the rudders, receiver and battery. Moreover, fuse was added to the circuit to provide
safety to it (Figure 1). The main mistake in Figure 1 was that it didnt show the battery connection with
receiver, which was later changed. After few design sessions, it was revealed that receiver couldnt have a
straight connection to the 12V battery as it could only handle 5V signals. Giving 12 volts to the receiver could
significantly damage it. This problem was solved by plugging the battery through the ESC, which had 5V
regulator embedded inside. Figure 2 shows more clear circuit, which was presented at VDP2 meeting. As it can
be noticed on the Figure 2, before having the information regarding 5V regulator in ESCs, it was temporary
decided that DC-DC step down converter will be used in the circuit to reduce the voltage. Also, an attempt of
battery life calculation was made. However, incorrect calculation of total current of the circuit was performed as
it was important to include a sum of current flow through each power consuming device but not a nominal
current of the battery. A significant progress was made by VDP3 meeting. Calculations of current through each
motor were made and proper battery life was found. A session before manufacturing was dedicated to lift testing
using cardboard hull (to avoid material waste) with multiple layers (to provide thickness). Measurements were
taken during that to have an idea how much current flows through lift motor in practice. The testing was
unsuccessful as the propeller was touching the skirt and it was temporary suspended until manufacturing a new
proper craft foam hull. During manufacturing process, both integrating and electrical engineers were out of
workshop testing the lift and thrust force of motors using mini scales. Both lift and thrust motors were providing
enough force (according to calculations made by lift and thrust engineer). Nevertheless, after the lift test with
craft foam hull and payload on top, it was seen that lift motor was too weak and skirt had no pressure inside at
all. The problem was that number of RPMs of motor were taken into account. However, static pressure was the
main component to consider as it had significant impact on the skirt inflation, so DC lift motor was replaced
with centrifugal fan (Figure 6). It was correct decision and skirt has inflated immediately. However, there was a
problem to solve with centrifugal fan as it was working at its maximum after connecting it with power source
and it had no speed control because of different configuration of wires (it couldnt be connected straight to the
ESC). Problem was solved by making an external circuit (Figure 4, Figure 4.1), which reversed the motors
internal circuit so it was starting from rest, and speed control was provided by having connection with ESC
through the external circuit. Last thing to work on was the servomotor. As specifications said, it shouldve had
180 degrees angle of rotation, which in practice was roughly twice smaller. It caused some problems to rudders
rotation, but it was later sorted by extending the servomotors pin. Finally, it was important to find out how all
components and wiring will be located on the hovercrafts hull. The team decision was to put it on top of the
centrifugal fan to avoid any balance issues (Figure 7). Final circuit can be seen on Figure 8.
Figure 1. VDP1 wiring diagram for hovercraft operation

Figure 2. VDP2 wiring diagram for hovercraft operation

Figure 3. VDP3 wiring diagram for hovercraft operation (DC-DC step down converter was later removed).
*Fuse had to be added to the circuit.

Figure 4 and Figure 4.1. External circuit for speed control of lift motor.
Figure 5. Hovercraft design concept with two brushless DC motors (both for lift and thrust)

Figure 6. Side view of hovercraft (centrifugal fan is right in the middle with wires on top and receiver behind it)
 Figure 7. Top view of hovercraft.

Figure 8. Final circuit concept for hovercraft operation. (As it can be noticed on a circuit, only 3 channels were
used on receiver: channel 6 for thrust, channel 3 for lift and channel 1 for servomotor)