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Air scoops for ventillation


toto
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I'm currently going to be looking into the possibility of introducing " air scoops " possibly to the underside of my Domino to provide better ventillation for the ESC battery compartment.

 

Would installing such a thing destabilise the  model. I was thinking off cutting a hole say two inches square ( estimate ) and inserting a thin brass or nickle silver open ended box section, say half and inch to an inch deep.

 

I can solder this up from scrap metals that I have available from other projects.

 

What's the opinion ?

 

Toto

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You're overthinking it, cut a hole near the front to allow air in preferably over the motor too, cut another hole for the warm air to escape behind the the bits you are hoping to keep cool.

 

Some of my models don't have any deliberate cooling holes, inlet or outlet but I don't have problems with overheating. The problems occur when pushing too much current through a setup and squeezing the last bit of power out of a motor and/or esc.

 

 

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Hi Outrunner,

 

Thanks, I get that this current issue is maybe not a ventillation issue but good information generally going forward.

 

There will be Images forthcoming of the set up later on. They may help to see the general picture of things.

 

Toto

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I have a model using a FrSky Neuron ESC that reports the ESC temperature using telemetry. When first flown there was no direct ventilation for the ESC and the reported temperature reached 75 C. I added a small scoop on the side with about 0.5 inch by 0.3 inch opening facing forward. There was always an air passage through the entire fuselage to an opening at the rear underside. The ESC now doesn't report a temperature over 35 C. The model flying characteristics haven't changed, although it is quite large, 5 feet wingspan and powered at over 800W at full power.

 

Mike

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Couple of things with regards to ESC cooling, which might not be immediately obvious - firstly, as warm air expands the exit hole for the warm air should be larger than the hole that lets the cool air in. You actually only need a fairly small air intake for cooling and more important is ensuring that the airflow is over the thing that is needing cooling.

 

On my BC Hurricane, back in it's nicd days the hot buggy motor ran hot, so I fashioned some functional exhausts, which direct air to the back of the motor. Without the cooling and without the heat sink element of substantial metal bearings, the highly overdriven hot buggy motors had a tendency for their plastic rear bell to melt. On other models I've put internal broad paper tubes to direct air through over the speed controller or toasty NiCd batteries - I don't think, in our climate, that lipos get hot enough in the uses that I'm putting them to, such that they would require any special additional cooling. 

 

The bowls off medicine spoons make excellent inlet ducts for fitting to sports models.

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I have an old Multiplex Sonic liner converted to brushless and can 2nd the NACA ducts  and some holes bored through the foam on the underside (twice inlet size). The relocated ESC's are now way cooler. Bit of drawing and a sharp knife.

Edited by Frank Day
mistake
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