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New GPS TOWER keeping the H cool .

John Hennessy

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Hi Fellow Members,
I am just giving you an update on the TOWER and what will be a retro fit when testing is finished in the new year. It is for all the Yuneec Hex copters ,480, 520 and the H plus. After a lot of discussions with electronics engineer erst and one for YUNEEC in Australia, the KILLER of ELECTRONICS is the DREADED HEAT. So hear is my next step up from the present TOWER to what is required to keep everything going at the correct temp in the hot weather. I do hope that this video plays, as you know me and computers don't exchange CHRISTMAS CARDS so here goes. Johnno Hennessy.
Keep flying on the green side of the grass
Well could not post that video, I think that I have to add a .text to it as it said that it was over size or some thing . Anyway here are some photos as I am able to do that properly I hope. I will get some one to help me with the small video tomorrow, my mate Bob probably. 20181210_211242.jpg
20181210_211304.jpg20181210_211324.jpg
 
Looks good Johnno! To post the video, you will need to upload it to one of the online video sites like YouTube. Once uploaded, copy the URL of the video to your clipboard.

Then here, when you post, click on the down arrow next to the three ellipses to the right of the emoji... it will have a text pop-up that says "Insert" on the posting navigation bar (right above the text box). Choose "Media"... paste the YouTube URL you copied in the previous step, into the text box pop-up that appears... hit Enter.
 
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John,

It's not just our GPS devices that suffer from heat degradation, which I think you may have already discovered. permit me to share a couple of true UAV events that occurred in Iraq. Understand I can't give actual location or component descriptions for security reasons.

At a remote flying location flights would operate normally during the morning and late night hours. Understand the UAV would usually be 100 miles or more from the base location and had a return home flight plan programmed into it if something went wrong. Over a period of time aircraft would consistently start to perform worse as the day grew longer, and frequently communications or GPS would be lost and the aircraft had to be either hand flown back to base or the lost comm auto return would be self activated. Watching live telemetry it eventually became evident that data packet losses were increasing as the morning advanced. Outside temperatures would start out a relatively nice 24C or so but increase to upwards of 49C as the day grew longer. It took awhile but it was found that a certain electrical device that exchanged data with the aircraft appeared to be breaking down as external heat increased. Long talks with engineers back home established that such was not possible and we would need to look elsewhere for the cause of lost communications. Convinced we were right and the engineers wrong we built a teepee around the device with a blanket and piped cool air from a remotely operated air conditioner to the device. When left off we continued to experience lost comms but when provided chilled air from the air conditioner communications were always maintained. The discovery caused a change in the component design.

At another location where runway take offs and landings were practiced for a certain UAV there were often departure delays for the UAV caused by arriving or departing passenger or freight aircraft. UAV's always had the lowest priority. If the UAV was left idling on the ramp for too long the avionics would collect too much reflected heat from the hot asphalt runway. Continued control of the aircraft was seriously compromised after things heated up. The reflected heat from the asphalt was measured and found to more often than not exceed 62C.

For another UAV, after quite a few in flight engine failures it was found the ignition systems would break down if they became too hot. They did not generate enough heat on their own to cause them to fail but heat absorbed from the outside environment combined with functional heat generation and caused components within the ignition systems to fail.

Point of all the above? Things that are expected to operate in variable thermal conditions need to have every component that could be impacted by heat tested and certified to endure thermal conditions that exceed the conditions they will have to operate in. Electrical components are a single source primary failure point and unless every component has been designed, tested, and certified to function correctly at elevated temps we will experience a lot of failures. The inside of an aircraft functions very similar to a convection oven when active cooling is not provided, and as heat accumulates things fail. Making that worse is the effects of thermal absorption are accumulative. What happened yesterday and today combine with what will happen tomorrow, slowly breaking down electrical components until they fail, usually doing so at the worst possible time.

What you are doing goes a long way to making the H a much more reliable flight system. Your tower cools more than just the GPS as it relieves heat from the primary control board as well.
 
AH-1G,
Yes, it can be shorter, I am looking at bringing it down 15 mm. The first few that I made were shorter but did not work as well, i printed many with differing heights by 5 mm ( or 1/4 inch) and used them as a tuning system for best all-around results ( over many months ) and have arrived at this approx ht. the lower you go I think gets interference from the CARBON FIBER impregnated in our standard props.
This has been a very long process, it may not look good but it is not a beauty contest and we need the functionality and the reliability of the modification to work at its optimum. I am getting delivery of the CONNECTORS for the 520 and H plus early next week and will have the extension cables made and tested and ready to go in the third week of the NEW YEAR. This will make R P R very happy as he has been using some of my shielding ideas for his H plus with great results. Like PatR has said plenty of times just because the factory has not done it,( PRICE PER MACHINE), it does not mean that it should not be done. Ther will be VARIATIONS of the VOLUME of AIR FLOW for the NEW TOWERS and all will be RETROFIT, no buying a COMPLETE NEW PRODUCT. The costs depend on the VOLUME you wish to SHIFT, but even the smallest volume is 100% more than what is getting moved now with the STANDARD H.
There are lots of tests to go yet but we are getting there, so it is not far off being available for all of the YUNEEC HEX COPTERS (480, 520 and H plus ). I will try and upload that video as per the instructions from Eagles Eye Video( thanks to everybody for your help )but that is a lot of foreign language to me but will give it a go. Johnno Hennessy.
Keep flying on the green side of the GRASS.
 
John,

Even a 10-15 second video file is too large for most e-mail servers to handle. Outlook is one exception to that I’m aware of. Social media sites like this one don’t have the file storage capacity to store a bunch of videos from the users. The solution is to make use of websites designed to upload and play videos. There are quite a few, and even Facebook works for this.

The three easiest to use are Dropbox, YouTube, and Vimeo. Dropbox and Vimeo both deliver your video work pretty much exactly as it was when you made it. Vimeo is the best in this regard as it was designed to present professional level videos. A problem with Vimeo for some is that it charges a fee for different levels of video uploading. A small level can be done for free but if you do a lot of large files you can run out of allowable weekly uploads quickly. Dropbox does pretty much the same thing, but both are easier to use than YouTube. Neither Vimeo or Dropbox have the number of viewers YouTube does though, and if you desire to monetize your videos through site advertisers only YouTube will do that.

The easiest way to put all that together is to look around for a 10-15 year old kid that always has their face buried in a cell phone. Promise to buy them a new video game and they might get everything set up and ready for the world to view in 30 minutes or so.
 
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Hi PatR,
The more that I do with this Mod the more I come to realize that the HEAT is the problem and the better venting the better everything goes. I am getting the small Tree loggers for some documentation and testing from this young engineer and he will do all that. I am starting to do my own tests with blocking off some of the top she'll vents to make it draw the hot air out of the cetera of the H ,this is to see if that makes a difference for my flights. I will be trying to get this video to the post today and learn a few things in the mean time. I will keep every one posted along the way. Johnno Hennessy.
Keep flying on the green side of the grass.
 
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You have embarked on one of the best parts of UAS operations, the exploration of what helps it work better than how it was originally designed. Whether you realize it or not you have assumed the tasks of an R&D engineer or advanced technician. The satisfaction that can be obtained from discovery and implementation can be immense.
 
Thanks Pat, That means a lot to me, coming from you. I can't even post a bloody video yet, but I will keep trying to make it happen. Thank you for your support and encouragement. Johnno Hennessy.
 
Johnno, if at some point you are having difficulties in getting the video squared away and I'm on the board at the time... PM me and I'll walk you through it. :)
 
This forum is great every body is willing to help, thank you Eagle's Eye for your offer. I have printed out your cheat sheet for me to have beside me as I travell along this daunting road. The video tells you that it puts out 1.5 cfm of air, it is capable of up to 1.9 when dialed up and I am looking at some that will put out upto 3cfm. The cost and power supply could be difficult, as visible it is running off a 500 mah single cell lipo with Syma x5 connections and no problems so far with testing and will soon have the run time for this battery under full load. Of course the higher the volume the dearer everything gets and I am looking at a happy cost effective median price. If this link thing does not work go to you tube and type in the looking Glass UNEEK ideaz John Hennessy and it will pop up for you. When you are there you will see that there is also a Professor John Hennessy head of COMPUTER SKILLS at some university. Now when you have finished laughing and picked yourselves up off the floor you can go and watch the small video . Johnno Hennessy. I am presently finding out my Url for the you tube site until then you will have to let your fingers do the walking. Johnno Hennessy.
 
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Hi All,
This is the link and hopefully it works and if it does you can thank my mate Bob for patiently guiding me through this and also Eagles Eye for the cheat sheet. The video will create more questions than answers, so don't be afraid to ask. If I can answer them I will if not there will more than likely be some one on here to give you the answer or send you in the right direction. Johnno Hennessy. Keep flying on the green side of the grass.
 
Hi RPR,
I am expecting my supplies early next week and if that is Correct we should be on schedule for the 3rd week in January for the cables after manufacture and testing. By the way did you read your thread on foiltastic with the bloke at the end, very interesting what he had to say about all of the after market antenas on the market and how they are illegal if an incident should happen. All good moving forward and you are CORRECT that this TOWER is the ANSWER to some of the problems in the 480 ,520 and H plus. I will keep you informed of my progress and different fan volumes that will be available in the early part of the new year. Johnno Hennessy.
 
Thanks Bobby Richter. I think that it is cool looking also,a bit like those radar jamming war birds.
Johnno Hennessy.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen... we have video ! :)
 
Johnno,

Regarding the post mentioning antennas and regulations, where U.S. is concerned he is correct. Once licensed by the FCC no changes to the system that deviates from the submitted design are permitted by the general public. Only those possessing a HAM radio license are legally permitted to make alterations with any alterations remaining in compliance with a bunch of other regulations that govern technician and higher level activities. Pretty much anything that alters RF power and RF radiation range is tightly controlled.

Our FCC regs are commonly violated by people involved in RC activity, with a large percentage of the violators involved with multirotor stuff looking for longer range through more powerful transmitters and antennas. Lacking a HAM radio license, anything they use is supposed to have been granted FCC certification, something most don’t have.

This is an area where for most ignorance is bliss as our FCC laws are not well enforced so people get away with it. Unless people in an area start complaining about interference suddenly showing up at their TV’s, radios, or phones the stuff goes unnoticed. Events occurring that induce a court case, personal injury, property damage, or a significant airspace violation for example, we can be assured the plaintiff’s legal investigative team would look for any violation that would bolster their evidence against the defendant. Should they find non compliant radio frequency transmission components a win would almost automatically go to the plaintiff as the aircraft should not have been in operation. The flight would have been illegal from the moment the system was powered on.

The rules regulating what we do are extremely complex and few understand all of them. I know I don’t. Something that adds to issues of compliance is that we can buy stuff from overseas that is totally non compliant, from manufacturers that don’t care about our regulations. We can buy 500-1000mW or higher video transmitters for just about any frequency band, which is blatantly illegal for anyone without a HAM license. Overseas manufacturers only care about selling their products and don’t care at all if the end use is legal, or not. They got what they wanted; money, and only rarely will they be prosecuted for it. I’m aware of only two that have, with one of them selling frequency jammers over here. Hobbyking got nailed for non compliant frequency transmission equipment. Technically, their products are supposed to be certified before they are imported to the U.S. but they usually are not. But who’s checking?

For most it’s not a big deal as they don’t put themselves in situations where problems might occur. Those participating in higher risk activities that would generate a lot of visibility should something happen might consider assuring their radio equipment remained in its certified state. Those operating professionally are in an even more tenuous position as their professional certification declares they are cognizant of all the regulations involving their activities. It’s all good...until we get caught.

The EMI and cooling stuff you are working on should not fall within the RF regulatory environment as neither activity propagates RF transmission. The GPS elevation/cooling tower does not alter signal strength.
 
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How will it affect the flight characteristics, especially in wind? What about weight balance center of gravity?
 
Do you want opinion or empirical data? The empirical stuff will take a long time to generate. To be done correctly would require a hundred flights or so and some wind tunnel tests. The latter will never happen as they cost half a year’s salary for a day’s use. Been there, done that. I dare say this modification has already been tested more than our firmware updates experience.

Opinion? Wind will have some effect but the FC will easily handle that. Johnno’s flight testing has already shown improved stability between buildings, a location wind effects are often magnified as such a space acts like a venturi. Under a 100 grams or so in locations close to center won’t have much, if any, impact on CG. The FC compensates for minor imbalance, and they actually have a lot of latitude. The weight in the vertical axis is close enough to center to not be a problem. The greatest impact on anything I foresee is flight time as any weight above the aircraft’s normal weight will impact flight time. That’s why those 8000+mA batteries only give a couple extra minutes, at most, of flight time. Weight versus power consumption to carry the extra weight. In this we might want to recognize we already have a lot of variability due to weather, flying style, battery quality, and battery condition. I would be surprised if we experienced a flight time reduction exceeding 2 minutes, if even that much.

There’s always going to be some trade off when we change something. If greater positional stability, reduced chance of fly aways, and longer electrical component life spans are desirable features, and they certainly are, the end benefits exceed the losses. But that’s just my opinion.

Realistically, we could recover the flight time by dumping the case on our batteries and adapt higher quality, higher capacity batteries that would fit in the hole. That’s not cosmetically perfect but something to consider, and something I think we’ll soon have to consider.
 
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