Abstract
Present chemical application method using a power sprayer has been labor intensive, costly and ineffective. Therefore, a small agricultural unmanned helicopter was suggested to replace the conventional spray system. In this study, conceptual design for developing the helicopter and a consequential prototype were reported. The overall conceptual design was initiated by deciding the type of agricultural helicopter, as the single rotor helicopter with a tail system. As the first step of the designing, an air-cooled, 2-stroke engine was selected and a prototype transmission was designed by determining the rotating speed of main rotor shaft. A 'pusher' type tail rotor system was adapted to balance the reaction torque and reduce the power use. The tail boom length was designed to avoid the rotating trajectory of the main rotor. The RF console consisted of the engine control, attitude control, and emergency control modules. Assembling the prototype concluded the mechanical development of the agricultural helicopter.
