Maybe the question is too general, but I’m looking for solid information on this, and people with experience in this field, to figure out how realistic it is to build a floating platform – a kind of hovercraft but without the “skirts” . Where can I find technical manuals or textbooks on this?
Answer
Dear Eric,
If you want to make a floating platform with fans, you will run into stability problems. If there are no “skirts” to direct the air, the “air cushion” under your platform is not stable and your platform will tilt quickly causing it to move, tilt even more… The skirts on a hovercraft are just for keep the air cushion under the hovercraft. The type of propeller does not have much influence on this.
If you want to talk about types of proellors, there are mainly two types: constant speed (old planes, sport planes, hovercraft) and variable speed (larger planes and helicopters).
What is going in the right direction for your floating platform is that very good control modules are now being developed to keep model helicopters and “quadcopters” stable. These are electronic circuits that can quickly detect whether your platform is tilting by means of a gyroscope and then adjust the speed of the propellers to keep things stable. Propellers with constant speed are usually used here.
Kind regards,
Answered by
Prof. Philippe Cara
Math
Avenue de la Plein 2 1050 Ixelles
http://www.vub.ac.be/
.