Development of 3D-printed floating Quadrotor for collection of algae in remote water bodies

• Published in: Computers and electronics in agriculture 2019-09, Vol.164, p.104891, Article 104891
• Main Authors: Esakki, Balasubramanian, Mathiyazhagan, Silambarasan, Moses, Manova, Jagajjanani Rao, K., Ganesan, Surendar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 3D printing; Algae; Algal biomass; Assembly; Biodegradability; Collection; Fatigue tests; Finite element analysis; Finite element method; Floating structures; Fuel consumption; Fused deposition modeling; Fused Filament Fabrication; High temperature; Power consumption; Quadrotor; Robot arms; Strength to weight ratio; Three dimensional printing; Time compression; Topology optimization; Unmanned aerial vehicles
• ISSN: 0168-1699; 1872-7107
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compag.2019.104891

•Unified Quadrotor frame is manufactured using 3D Printing to minimize assembly time and human efforts.•Topology Optimization of Quadrotor structure is performed to reduce the weight and increase the endurance of UAV.•A floating UAV with a robotic arm to collect algae samples in remote water body is demonstrated.•Microscopic analysis revealed the collected sample is filamentous algae, Spirogyra sp. Additive manufacturing (AM) techniques are significantly progressing in several industrial sectors to manufacture functional components and realizing the prototypes swiftly. Fabrication of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) components using AM methods are in the rise due to design flexibility and time compression. The present work exploits in fabricating unified body of Quadrotor frame wherein assembly time is minimized. Finite element analysis is performed to examine the structural strength characteristics of various grooved frames to achieve high strength-to-weight ratio. The optimized frame is 3D-printed using Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) method with high temperature resistance, weatherproof and bio-degradable part material. The manufactured frame has reduced the assembly efforts, part count and proficient method of building a Quadrotor. Floats are attached at the bottom of the multirotor structure and tested for assembly time, endurance, power consumption and weight. A robotic arm with an end-effector carrying perforated container is attached to the floating Quadrotor to collect algae from the remote water bodies. The forward motion of the floating vehicle is achieved using 3D-printed tilt configuration attached to a rotor. The developed UAV is deployed in a pond for algal biomass collection and microscopic analysis is performed to identify the species.