juliantech5

So I have decided to build a solar glider since I really want to get involved with this new "sustainable" flight and whatnot. I will start construction tomorrow and I just need a little help on the frame. I'm hoping to be able to cruise solely on solar energy since that's the whole point of the project. It is going to be very similar to rctestflight's glider but since I don't have access to a laser cutter the wings will be made out of foam and reinforced with 2 carbon fibre spars (going through the whole wing) the solar panels will simply rest on indentations in the foam. I'm planning on using a large foam cutter with 2 templates on the sides of the foam to make the wing in 3-4 parts. I'll be using156mm x 156mm mono panel solar panels that create around 4.2w each at 0.6v. The idea is to connect 12 of them in series to create around 50W of power, I can them boost the power to charge a 3s 1000mah Battery. My only issue is I'm not sure on the wing design and fuselage to use. I'm planning on using a Clark Y airfoil but let me know if there is anything better out there, I might add polyhedral to the wing but that means the spar will have to be bent at some point, I am also not particularly good at flying so maybe polyhedral is a good idea? Here is a ruff design I made (edit: cant post pictures)


What wing chord should I have considering the cells are 156mm? Also, would it be better to make the wing shorter or longer?

Any help is truly appreciated and I will keep you updated on everything!

jester_s1

Welcome to the hobby and to the forum. Lots of people come here initially with a novel idea they want to try. Some wind up becoming aeromodelers, while others move on to something else when they find out how hard it actually is to design a good flying plane and gain the skills to control it. It's best to learn something about building planes first by building a proven design with a proven power system. Your idea isn't going to work for numerous reasons, chief among them the power to weight ratio. That doesn't mean you can't be creative, but building a few planes and really getting the flying skills down will show you where some creativity can work and help you be successful.