Engineering students in the Design-Centric Programme (DCP) at the National University of Singapore have been busy building a lightweight electric paraglider -- a vehicle envisioned as a clean, safe and simple way to get humans off the ground.
This project was developed at the behest of National Geographic, which requested the battery-powered flying machine to feature as part of their Machine Impossible show. The engineering team at NUS did not disappoint, successfully designing, building and flying what may be the world’s lightest electric paraglider trike, which they named The Delta.
In fact, the Delta is the lightest aircraft in the world that can take off and land with wheels, and while carrying an adult pilot - enough of a statement to get the attention of NatGeo.
The Delta is minimalistic and simple, with an aluminium and carbon fibre frame and chassis, fibreglass suspension and steering capability, all wrapped up in a roll cage to protect the pilot. The aircraft uses a standard off-the-shelf paraglider as its airfoil.
The aircraft weighs in at only 49 kilograms, and is capable of carrying a pilot weighing up to 75kg, flying at 36 kilometers per hour for up to 10 minutes on a single battery charge. The battery is lithium polymer, and powers the dual rear mounted propellers and motors.
“The challenge in designing and building The Delta was three-fold: we had to find the lightest airfoil possible, a wing, blade or sail crucial for flight, which we found in a conventional cloth paraglider. We had to find the lightest motors to provide enough thrust for The Delta to be airborne, and we had to build it so that it is light enough to fly, yet sturdy enough to be safe,” explained Rangarajan Jegadeesan, one of the project supervisors from DCP and a lecturer at the Engineering Design & Innovation Centre in the NUS Faculty of Engineering.
The Delta project was built as a part of the FrogWorks initiative, a student-founded and student-run design and prototyping studio for green vehicles. This project was not the students’ first such endeavour, with past FrogWorks projects including an earlier model paraglider, electric conversions for sport motorcycles and a solar powered yacht.
The NatGeo show offered these students an opportunity to not only do what they love, but for their project to get large-scale recognition. Martin Henz, the project supervisor and advisor from the DCP at NUS, commented “We are thrilled to have this opportunity to build an all-new machine for the National Geographic Channel. Designing and building The Delta allowed us to push the limits of our creativity and engineering know-how, while building upon our experience from previous successful FrogWorks projects.”
“We will continue to fine-tune The Delta, and at the same time, we also look forward to creating more sustainable recreational vehicles, be it on land, at sea or in the air. Such projects have tremendous values in the education of our students in engineering,” Henz added.
While finding projects to work on is rarely an issue for engineers, seeing them come to life and be recognized on such a wide scale is a dream for many students entering the industry.
Read more about NUS engineering projects at the Design Centric Programme website.