Quote Originally Posted by overkill View Post
Have to agree about a custom actuator and it might not be much work. Using that GLA4000 as an example, it only has a 50 watt motor and I'd bet you a pint of Guinness that is fairly low RPM as well. By changing the motor for one with 4 or 5 times the RPM and maybe 100 to 200 Watts power, you would get the required force and speed without having to make an actuator from scratch.

Some random thoughts:

Using two actuators is probably LESS reliable than using one larger one. If a motor or gear fails, it will lock the actuator solid and the other actuator will be trying to twist the wing - either something mechanical will break of the 2nd motor will burn out quickly.

If you use an Arduino, this motor control shield might be a good match:http://tinyurl.com/bmp4lmy. It uses automotive motor control chips that have temperature & current limiting and should handle high power actuators. It will work with very little programming and has advanced features you could use at a later date.

What sort of budget are we working with - penniless student or rich sponsored/factory team?

The forces acting on the push rod and actuator are always going to be compressive, which is exactly how actuators are meant to be used. For the push rod, I'd be using a wider tube rather than a thin solid rod as it will deflect less in compression for the same weight. Add a million style points if you can use a carbon fibre tube.
Hi all,
Apologies for the lack of replies, I have been mad busy lately.
I received the actuators, they are very very small and light.
After considering a lot of your input (and others from various backgrounds) i have decided to make several changes to the design.

1. Use only one actuator, it seems this is a logical step for reliability and also aerodynamics. The actuator I have can handle 2300N so that will be ok on its own.
In the future i can upgrade my motor to be more powerful/quicker

2. The actuator and wing will be mounted to a subframe as such in the boot. The boot lid will play no role in suporting the wing, it will just act as a cover. The car has gone to get a role cage this week so the work will be completed then.

3. The actuator will act in the centre of the wing between the two mounts.

4. The wing has been increased in size to 1700x400mm
Here are the latest calculations after these changes...

Thats 125kg @100mph! Happy days


I'll try to keep here updated, thanks all for the input, it has been an eye opener to some aspects. I hope to be working on the mechanical construction for the next 3 weeks so I won't be focusing on the aspect at hand here. But once the wing is completed I'll have photos up for all to see and then I can concentrate on the controls aspect.

Thanks again,
Peter