Flying Information
Raptor E620/SE
By Fred Annecke
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Raptor E620 - What a Beautiful Machine! |
The long awaited electric powered Thunder Tiger Raptor
has landed! End of May Thunder Tiger Europe officially
presented the Raptor E620/SE during their annual helicopter
fun fly, held near Munich/Germany. Ron Sebastian
and Markus Fiehn,who participated at the Helicopter
3D Taiwan Cup in April 2006,flew some impressive demos
with the new (prototype) model which they have engineered/
designed for the Thunder Tiger Company during
spring 2006.
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The rotor head of the new Raptor E620/SE
comes from the Raptor 50SE. Same thing with
the complete tail rotor/boom arrangement. |
The Raptor E620/SE is mainly based on existing parts
coming from the successful Raptor30/50 V.2 series, carrying
over main rotor, tail rotor including boom, belt tail
drive and canopy. It turns 600-620mm main blades with
a 6-10S LiPo battery of 3.5-5Ah capacity. The brushless
motor is rear mounted behind the mast on top of the main
frame,which gives lots of free space for the batteries downstairs.
A Plettenberg Orbit outrunner motor is recommended
because of its high torque characteristic. Because
the new injection molded 111 tooth spur gear allows ratios
from 7:1 up to 13:1, lots of other motor types can be
adapted. A 90º eCCPM arrangement moves the swashplate.
The reason behind preferring the 90º system over
the mostly used 120º or 140º
arrangement is minor mechanical
interaction between
the swashplate driving servos.
All three servos are pushpull
and will be of standard size,
giving brute collective/cyclic
swashplate power for extreme 3D maneuvers. The most
interesting part of the Raptor E620/SE is its two part
chassis. The upper element is made from injection molded
plastic parts, which accept tail boom, motor, gear
train, servos and radio. The lower part is made from cut
carbon fibre sheets that accept and protect the LiPo battery
as well as mount the landing gear.
With this design
you have options for adapting the new upcoming cell sizes
and will have plenty of space for various battery configurations.
That should satisfy beginners and experts. The
word is that the estimated launch date of the first Raptor
E620/SE batch shall be August/September. We will have
a closer look at it soon!
The rear located, top mounted electric motor is a clever design
because this arrangement produces lots of space for a big battery
pack downstairs.
Left side view: the critical ESC is located at the rear end together
with the motor. This gives a minimum of RF noise to the front
mounted receiver.
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