Re: Double springs on a VP hub?

From: Bill Gowen <b.gowen_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2006 15:36:14 -0400

It might have something to do with my prop making skills but I've never had a prop that would do well at 2:1 pitch.

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: ewmonda
  To: Indoor_Construction_at_yahoogroups.com
  Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 2:11 PM
  Subject: Re: [Indoor_Construction] Double springs on a VP hub?


  I might be getting things mixed up here, but I thought I had read
  earlier on this list that the most efficient pitch was something
  around a 2:1 P/D ratio. From my very limited experience, it seems
  that a much lower P/D ratio is needed on the low pitch stop in order
  to use all turns on the descent for a full motor in Cat I. Is the
  2:1 ratio the most efficient only for a fixed pitch prop? What kind
  of P/D ratios are people using for the low stop?

  Eric Monda

  --- In Indoor_Construction_at_yahoogroups.com, "Fred Tellier" <fred-
  tellier_at_...> wrote:
>
> I have to agree with Bill, the gradual slow climb is what one
  wants in low sites. This is accomplished with the excessive high
  pitch that will actually cause the plane to descend a little at
  first and wallow around at very low altitudes for the first few
  minutes of the flight. I find that the extremely low RPM causes the
  turns to be used slower so a little more spring tension usually is
  needed to get the plane to start to climb. I use the same prop hubs
  and springs for all ceiling heights but usually need to turn the
  spring screw in some for low ceilings. The prop usually is in low
  pitch at the top altitude of the flight just before the model starts
  to descend. If this happens right you should be able to use up most
  of the turns. If you get it right on a F1D the plane should take at
  least 10 to 12 minutes to get to the top and stay there at least
  another 5 or 6 before starting the slow descent. I only have 18' at
  my cat1 site and can get 24 minute plus flights fairly easily if the
  air is stable. The problem with cat1 F1D flights is turbulence in
  the first 5 minutes as the plane is struggling to fly with such a
  high pitch. Another problem is getting enough movement in the hub to
  allow such a high pitch
>
> Fred Tellier
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Bill Gowen
> To: Indoor_Construction_at_yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Monday, August 14, 2006 3:31 PM
> Subject: Re: Re: [Indoor_Construction] Double springs on a VP
  hub?
>
>
> Nope. I don't see any advantage in causing a quicker change over
  for low ceiling. I would think a lighter spring would be the way to
  go for low ceiling to delay the changeover as much as possible
  (without landing). I also think that a single climb would conserve
  more turns than going up and coming down and going up again but this
  is just a gut feeling not based on ever having much success with
  either of these plans.
>
> I wouldn't use a second spring for anything.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Nick Ray
> To: Indoor_Construction_at_yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Monday, August 14, 2006 2:23 PM
> Subject: Re: Re: [Indoor_Construction] Double springs on a VP
  hub?
>
> Maybe I'm reading comp challenged, but are you saying to
  configure it
> such that he second spring is only active during the first part
  of the
> flight? Thereby, causing the the amount of time that the model is
> descending in the initial stage of the flight to decrease and
  then for
> the spring to some how deactivate? If that is right, then
  wouldn't
> that be more efficient than using a heaver spring the whole way
> through because the change in pitch would be more gradual.
> Also what are the thoughts of gradual pitch change verses sudden
  pitch change?
> Nick Ray
> On 8/14/06, Bill Gowen <b.gowen_at_...> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Here's a contrarian view (possibly but not necessarily
  correct), that will
> > be called Bill's Theory of VP's. (all you guys who beat me all
  the time can
> > go ahead and laugh at this point).:
> >
> > There's a point in any flight where the energy left in the
  motor is unable
> > to maintain level flight no matter what the pitch of the prop
  is. At that
> > point in the flight the prop pitch should be at it's most
  efficient value.
> > If the prop is running at it's most efficient pitch then
  having a higher or
> > lower pitch will not make your flight any longer and in fact
  should make it
> > shorter. So, IMHO, the prop should be at it's lowest pitch
  when the model is
> > still at the highest possible point in the flying site, AND
  that the low
> > pitch setting should be carefully adjusted for the best
  possible cruise.
> >
> > Just for purposes of illustration let's say that this point is
  at an
> > altitude of 100 feet and that you have 1000 turns left at this
  point in your
> > flight. Let's also say that you started with 2500 turns.
  What's left for the
> > VP to accomplish is to feed those initial 1500 turns to the
  model in a way
> > that puts the model at 100 feet altitude at the same point in
  time that it
> > reaches 1000 turns remaining. Under normal (fixed pitch)
  circumstances these
> > 1500 initial turns are going to be much more than is needed to
  reach the
> > target altitude. The job of the VP is to force the prop to run
  at an
> > inefficient (higher) pitch in order to reduce the model's
  climb so that all
> > of the initial 1500 turns can be safely used. You also want
  the prop to run
> > as slowly as possible during this phase of the flight so it is
  desirable to
> > have the highest possible pitch at all points of the climb
  phase - keeping
> > in mind that you have to get to your 100 foot target altitude.
> >
> > It follows that there are 2 distinct parts of a flight using
  VP. The
> > descending portion is controlled by the quality of the model,
  rubber, prop,
> > flyer skill, weather conditions, thermals and whatever else
  you can think of
> > that makes some indoor flights better than others. The
  ascending portion is
> > controlled by how well the VP does it's job of power
  modulation.
> >
> > If the above statements are factual, then I'm led to the
  following
> > conclusion:
> >
> > One of the most critical attributes of a VP hub is that the
  spring is
> > strong enough to give absolute low pitch at absolute maximum
  altitude.
> >
> > The downsides of having a spring strong enough to do this are:
> > 1. a strong spring is heavy and
> > 2. a strong spring is going to want to change pitch earlier
  than a weaker
> > spring. If the change is too early then RPM's go up and time
  is lost.
> >
> > I don't really see a way that a second spring can be helpful.
  It seems that
> > a second spring would make problem 2 worse instead of better
  and would also
> > make the adjustment of the hub even more complicated than it
  already is.
> > What you really need is a way to delay the change from high
  pitch as long as
> > possible and then have a quick change to low pitch.
> >
> > Oh yeah... that's already been done - the folding VD props of
  Richmond and
> > Doig!
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Tapio Linkosalo
> > To: Indoor_Construction_at_yahoogroups.com
> > Sent: Monday, August 14, 2006 3:48 AM
> > Subject: [Indoor_Construction] Double springs on a VP hub?
> >
> > Last week spent a couple of days paddling on the lake Saimaa,
  and had good
> > time to think and ponder model-related things. I started to
  wonder why
> > some VP-hubs that I have seen show double springs to resist
  the pitch
> > change. I also made up a hypothesis, which is as follows:
> >
> > An ideal spring should have a linear change of twist as the
  function of
> > the torque, thus if the spring coefficient was right, it would
  result in a
> > constant power output independent of the prop turns. However,
  the prop
> > efficiency is not constant, but for a prop that is designed in
  the
> > mid-range of the pitch, the efficiency will decrease at higher
  pitch, and
> > then even though the input power to the prop was constant, the
  output was
> > reduced at higher pitch. Thus a model with "proper" spring
  coefficient,
> > and which was trimmed for level flight at mid-torque, would
  actually
> > _sink_ at higher torque. ( I suppose we have seen this, as
  some people
> > report models sinking at the start of the flight when trimmed
  at low
> > sites?). One solution would be to reduce the high pitch
  setting, but the
> > setting is probably highly sensitive, and to avoid climbing to
  the ceiling
> > then one would also need to back-off some. So to make the high-
  pitch
> > setting more flexible, one adds another spring that kicks in
  at high
> > torque, and reduces the amount of pitch at high torque. This
  way one can
> > maintain positive climb even at the high TQ, and still be able
  to wind the
> > motor to the max, without a need for backoff?
> >
> > -Tapio-
> >
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> >
> >
> >
> >
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Received on Tue Aug 15 2006 - 12:36:50 CEST

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