Minos

 

The Minos was a project developed as the graduation thesis for my BEng in Aeronautical Engineering at Universidad de San Buenaventura.

 

The project consisted of the conceptual design of a hybrid propelled Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for high subsonic speeds. The final goal was to build a prototype and fly it to prove the basic flying characteristics of the aircraft. The aircraft was propelled by Electric Ducted Fans (EDF) for take off, low speed cruise, and landing operations. For high speed cruise, the Minos was fitted with a solid fuel rocket engine.  

 

The three main areas of the design were Conceptual Design, Structural Conceptual Design, and Power Plant Design. I was in charge of the first one, in which the airplane shape and all the preliminary aerodynamic and stability derivatives were determined and calculated. We were given one year for the completion of the project in which we managed to completely design the aircraft. The prototype was built with the leadership and guidance of Romulo Monsalve, who has been building remote controlled aircraft for more than 40 years.

 

A test flight of the prototype was completed, however, the failure of certain components and the fact that the EDFs did not perform as expected, led the aircraft to a relatively short controlled flight and crash landed in a field near the runway.  

 

The aircraft has been completely repaired and funding is being searched for in order to perform further flight tests.