Fuselage
Construction Photos
The solar plane's fuselage is
constructed of balsa and light-ply. It's about 57" long measured from the
firewall. With the spinner, motor and tail assembly, the overall length of the
plane is 71"
Bulkhead
Formers (1/8" birch ply)
Fuselage
Construction on Full-Size Plans
NACA
Low-Drag Cooling Air Intake
This
low-drag air intake duct
admits air into the fuselage creating a positive internal pressure. From there
the pressurized air flows rearward in the fuselage to the area of the
wing-saddle, where the cool air then enters the roots of each wing-half.
The
air then flows inside the wing covering from the center of the wing to each
wingtip where it exits. As the air passes over the top- and bottom surfaces of
the hot solar cells it extract heat, reducing cell temperatures by 70ºF for
cells near the wing's center, and 44ºF for cells at the wingtips. This cooling
of the solar cells increases their electrical output by 10%.
The NACA duct and electronics access panel
is secured to the fuselage by a forward tongue
plus four neodymium rare-earth magnet-pairs:
Outrunner
Motor & Folding Prop
Fuselage
Electronics
Power
Switch Panel & Digital Voltmeter
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