Heidi HoopesNovember 21, 2013E-volo’s 18-rotor electric Volocopter makes maiden flight

The 18-rotor electric Volocopter has taken to the air for the first time

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E-volo recently celebrated the maiden launch of its electric two-passenger, 18-rotor VC200 "Volocopter," touting the vehicle's safety and simplicity after an indoor flight inside the dm-arena in Karlsruhe, Germany on November 17. While the copter is similar in form to both quadcopters and helicopters, the company resists the helicopter label, pointing out the numerous radically different safety and design choices that set the vehicle apart.

Following on from earlier prototypes, the overall design resembles a quadcopter – or, more aptly with its 18 separate rotors, an octodecacopter. On the Volocopter, six arms extending from the central part of the rotor ring split into twelve more arms, with rotors placed at each juncture.

For power, six battery blocks power the rotor drives for about twenty minutes of emission-free flight time, with an hour anticipated in the future. Additionally, range extenders are envisioned for the final design. The team is aiming for a cruising speed of at least 54 knots (62 mph / 100 km/h) and a flight altitude of 6,500 ft for the production version.

E-volo emphasizes the redundancies in the battery system. Each rotor arm is powered by three batteries, so two nonadjacent batteries could fail and the Volocopter could still land safely. In even more dire straits, a ballistic separation system deploys a parachute.

These measures are a part of e-volo’s larger goal that the “Volocopter must become the world’s safest piece of air sport equipment.” Pointing out that most helicopter emergencies stem from pilot behavior, e-volo designed the Volocopter with onboard computers sensors that assume the role of determining and compensating for flight conditions, while the pilot “merely” controls the direction. Because of this design decision, the Volocopter is also easy to fly and pilot training is simpler.

Finally, the electronic systems of the Volocopter are different from traditional designs. Instead of the classic fly-by-wire computer systems, the Volocopter has twenty independent computers which could theoretically each fly the computer solo.

The team conducted multiple remote-controlled flights lasting several minutes each under the dm-arena's nearly 22 m (72 ft) ceiling. E-volo hoped to test several things during the VC200’s launch. Even in simulations it was impossible to predict if the lightweight carbon construction would produce vibrations, which can be annoying and loud, or even deadly. However, no vibrations were evident, even through the HD camera mounted on the exterior rotor ring.

Additionally, though previous tests had shown that the overall noise level would be quieter than a traditional helicopter – not a difficult feat to be sure – the team was still surprised that the vehicle were quieter than expected and had a pleasant rich sound.

The overall flight was several minutes long and included several takeoffs and landings. Highlights of it can be watched in the video below.

Source: e-volo

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形象画廊的空气（20幅）
E-Volo最近庆祝其电动两乘首航推出，18转子vc200”volocopter吹捧，”车辆的安全、简便的马克在卡尔斯鲁厄竞技场内室内飞行后，德国11月17日。当直升机在形式上类似于四轴飞行器和直升飞机，直升机公司拒绝标签，指出许多完全不同的安全和设计选择，设置车辆分开。

从早期的原型，日总体设计类似直升机–或者，更贴切地以18个独立的转子，一个octodecacopter。在volocopter，从转子环分成十二多个臂中部延伸的六条手臂，放置在每个时刻的转子。

电源，六电池块功率转子带动约二十分钟发射自由飞行时间，与一个小时在未来的预期。此外，范围扩展到最终的设计。团队的目标是巡航速度至少54海里（62公里/ 100公里/小时）和一个生产版本的6500英尺的飞行高度。

E-Volo强调冗余电池系统。每个转子支臂是由三个电池供电，所以两个不相邻的电池可能会失败，volocopter仍能安全着陆。在更可怕的困境，弹道分离系统部署降落伞。

这些措施的一部分，更大的目标，“E-Volo的volocopter必须成为世界上最安全的空气运动设备。”指出大多数直升机紧急干从试点行为，E-Volo设计的车载电脑假定确定传感器的作用和补偿的volocopter飞行条件，而试点“仅仅”控制方向。由于这种设计决定的volocopter也容易飞，飞行员培训简单。

最后的volocopter电子系统不同于传统的设计。而不是用线计算机系统经典的volocopter飞，有二十个独立的电脑能够在理论上每个飞计算机独奏。

团队进行了多次遥控飞行持续了几分钟每下DM舞台的近22米（72英尺）的天花板。E-Volo希望vc200的发射试验中的几件事。即使在模拟中，这是不可能预测的轻质碳结构，如果产生振动，它可以是恼人的，响亮的，甚至是致命的。然而，没有振动明显，甚至通过高清摄像头安装在外转子环。

此外，尽管先前的试验已经表明，整体噪音水平会比传统的直升机–不一定–球队艰难的壮举仍然惊讶的是，车是比预期的和有一个愉快的丰富的声音安静。

整体飞行了好几分钟长，包括几个起飞和降落。亮点可以在下面的视频中看到。