Hi everyone,

I am working on making a hoverboard with 360 degree movement handlebar controls and four side fans with 150 degree variable positioning for increased control.

I want to use two rear ducted fans to provide thrust, but I don't know what size to use.

My latest design uses four 4" fans in two carbon fiber ducting to pull air in the front and down to the 16" fans at the bottom for the main lift force.
(the picture below shows the carbon fiber housing and the tubes out the back).

Next four groups of 12 fans will be placed two groups of three on the left and two groups of three of the right side (similar to the placement of tires on a car). In each group one fan will intake air, one fan will push air down and one fan will use one of the four 4-1/2 "carbon fiber tubes to push air out the sides in a variable 150 degrees radius.

For controls I have been thinking of using something similar to scooter controls, but the variable turn controls should provide a completely different and improved ability to move around and in completely new ways.

The controls will have the standard left and right turns found in cars. If you turn left, than the right front and the left back fan would push the air out the sides to turn left, to turn right the front left and back right fan would turn on.

The difference is that the variable 150 degree movement of the side could be controlled by moving the control stick in any 360 degree direction to get a very controlled movement in that direction. You could even move the fans to angle towards the front to act as an air brake. This would be a completely new way of moving from all cars and hoverboards out today.

Here is a quick beginning drawing of my concept.


I am going to use materials from a ducted fan attachment I made for my bike shown below. Four 4" ducted fans have been mounted in carbon fiber ducting will be used to intake air for the main 16" lifting fans, while the 4-1/2" tubes will be used on the side fans.


I would like to use 2 16" Nascar 2700 CFM fans that I have picked up for the main levitation thrust (similar to the diagram of the 16" fan below), I am planning on making a bag & fingered skirt to hold in the air and increase the levitation height (kite material is the best material that I have found thus far).


I have four 4 " fans in the carbon fiber ducting shown in the picture on the table above that will draw air down to the 16" fans below. These 4" fans are made for boats or very large car intake systems. They are made out of ABS plastic, but they have been sanded down to reduce weight. I have used these fans before as an attachment on my carbon fiber road bike to gain speed, and they worked! I would get a boost of speed that would help most on straight ways and small hills.

The 16" fans are rated at about 2500 CFM, and I have also planned on having four smaller ducted fans on each corner of the board where the side fans would be located pushing air down.

This would mean I would have 8 intake fans, 2 large 16" fans, and 4 smaller fans adding to the lifting height.I will also be making a bag and fingered skirt once I figure out the material that I want to use.


I have been thinking of adding a customized motor that would use less energy, and even recapture energy while the motor is moving. I would use this motor on the 2 large 16" fans and the four smaller fans that would be pushing air down to gain lifting height.



I still have a way to go, but I would appreciate any comments or suggestions you may have.

A few things I still have not figured out.

1) I do not know what I should use as my main propulsion on the back. I have been thinking of two very large ducted fans, but I have not figured out what size.

2) I will need to program in controls for the scooter control stick that will move the side fans as the scooter control stick is moved in any 360 degree direction. I am hopefully going to get some electronic and programming help for this.

3) I do not know what skirt material to use. I want it to be durable but light.

some have ben made useing leafblower elect or gas could use tubine lots thrust.ps you can use gyro's for stability

Originally Posted by space 1

some have ben made useing leafblower elect or gas could use tubine lots thrust.ps you can use gyro's for stability

The most powerfull Leaf blowers have about 300-400 CFM. Just one of the 16 4" fans that I will be using has that much output, and my two 16" fans put out 2500 CFM each before the boost from the intake fans.

I wanted to stay away from leaf blowers because of the noise involved. I am going to be using dynamat car sound dampening material and another light sound dampening material that I picked up, but I still expect noise to be a major problem.


I will have four 4 1/2" fans, and two 16" fans with 8 fans intaking air for them. This HOPEFULLY should be enough to get a few inches off the ground.

Getting off the ground is not my main concern though. Programming in the scooter controls to control the side fans will be the hardest part of the project. I also need to figure out what I am going to use for my main propulsion system.

Look for the mythbusters episode where the two of them competed against each other in a race using 2 different hover designs. Both sorta worked on smooth pavement, but the show covered the control problems and the solutions they came up with.
Bruce
PS leafblowers have velocity output so don't dismiss them based solely on CFM output.
Much like a garden hose with or without a nozzle.

Originally Posted by bmiller

Look for the mythbusters episode where the two of them competed against each other in a race using 2 different hover designs. Both sorta worked on smooth pavement, but the show covered the control problems and the solutions they came up with.
Bruce
PS leafblowers have velocity output so don't dismiss them based solely on CFM output.
Much like a garden hose with or without a nozzle.

Hey Bmiller, thanks for the response.

I think for levitation that I will need more power and I will hopefully produce less noise than a leaf blower would.

I am still trying hard to figure out what to use as my main propulsion system.

- I could use large ducted fans.

- I could use a small pulse jet engine.

- I could use a miniature turbine.

Finding the most efficient propulsion system is my largest concern right now.