What's the difference: tricopter, quadcopter, octocopter, hexacopter?.

Why a quadcopter?

Intuitively, a quadcopter is an aircraft with four propellers / propellers and a vertical arrangement of their axes. The type of multicopter is determined by the layout of the frame (beams) and the number of motors / propellers. The most common copters in which the number of beams is equal to the number of propellers:

Tricopter (3 propellers)

Quadrocopter (4 propellers)

Hexacopter (6 propellers)

Octocopter (8 propellers)

In turn, frames can have 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 or even more beams. Variants of coaxial arrangement of motors on the beam are also possible, but they are used less often. Let's give an example: if there are 3 motors and propellers, and they are located on three beams, then this is a tricopter, but if two motors with propellers for each beam are coaxially placed on the same frame, then this is already a hexacopter according to the scheme "Y" or "Y6" (or "coaxial tricopter"). The same applies to the quadcopter and octocopter in the "X4" or "X8" scheme.

Hexacopter according to the "Y" or "Y6" scheme

Differences

What else can be the differences between them, besides the number engines? Let's try to figure it out in more detail.

Tricopters ("quadrocopters" and hexacopters according to the scheme: Y3, Y4 and Y6 and Y4) - have a specific design. In the Y3 design, there is a servo-based tail beam / boom motor swivel assembly (see photo below), which does not add reliability and can add problems when designing a copter. A small number of engines obliges the designer to increase their power, that is, it is more difficult to obtain a large lifting force for additional equipment in this case.

However, there are fans of such schemes. Someone uses this design because of the aircraft-helicopter type and flight mode, someone finds in it a similarity to the American "Osprey" and plays with this in the design of the hull. Nevertheless, this scheme is used by enthusiasts for entertainment, aerobatic stunts, FPV flights and filming with action cameras such as GoPro.

Quadrocopters (less often octocopters according to the X8 scheme) are the most popular, simple and versatile branch of copters at the moment. They differ in the relative cheapness of components, stability, compactness and a minimum of thought over mechanics. The thrust-to-weight ratio is sufficient for using gimbals with system cameras and GoPro. At the same time, maneuverability and weight still allow for a feeling of fun and confidence when piloting.

With a competent approach to the construction of a quadcopter, there will be enough thrust for all the payload that you may need, and the flight time in order to enjoy using it. Using drones (for example, DJI, the Phantom family, which is still very popular), you can achieve really impressive results in aerial photography. It is also worth noting the high maintainability of the quadcopters in case of crashes / accidents. Many people start with such UAVs, since they are the very "golden mean" and a field for experiments.

Hexacopters and octocopters are the most stable, expensive and heavy vehicles. As a rule, the purpose of their appearance is high-quality shooting with heavy professional photo and video cameras. These drones use powerful motors, batteries and bulky gimbals. Those. this is already a full-fledged professional shooting technique, and not amateur experimental designs.

But the more complex the equipment, and the more critical components it contains, the higher the probability of failure of the unmanned device. In the case of multicopters "hexa" and above, there are cases when one of the motors fails, the copter safely (not without nerves, of course) made a soft landing.

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