A foam plane costs about 10 or 15 euros online. Then there are models that come with a small motor and use a supercapacitor as an energy source. With about ten seconds of charging, the plane can cover a longer distance than we imagine, but Tom Stanton, who we already know from his excellent videos about magnets, motors, and 3D printing, decided to optimize the original design and build a much more powerful supercapacitor plane…
Getting lithium cells is relatively easy for me (there are many old laptop batteries that can be recycled with enough care)... but supercapacitors are another story. They practically don't exist locally, and what little I find has prohibitive prices. That's why I find it fascinating that they already come included in some low-cost toys, and that their potential in the DIY space is so great.
The constant search for projects led me to Tom Stanton's channel, who bought a small foam plane with a supercapacitor inside. Supercapacitors don't have a large capacity, but they charge very quickly, something that conventional batteries definitely envy. With his manual charger (which he designed in a previous video), he was able to fill the plane's supercapacitor with just nine revolutions. The next step? Build a larger supercapacitor plane.
Supercapacitors and Radio-Controlled Planes
Fortunately, Tom knows exactly what he's doing (he's an aerospace engineer), and he prepared a configuration of six supercapacitors of 3 volts and 100 farads (that's right, nothing micro or nano) connected in series. The comparison is impressive: The supercapacitor pack can store the same energy as a CR2032 cell, but that cell would end up in flames if it tried to do the work of the supercapacitors.
The rest was a matter of designing the fuselage around the supercapacitor pack. His model is compatible with a front motor, but 3D printing and aerodynamics are capricious ladies, and they demanded some extra adjustments. The wings and tail of the plane were taken from a previous project, saving time and costs.
Despite the inclement weather, Tom managed to get about two minutes of flight, with two minutes of manual charging. If conditions improve and the speed of his manual charging increases, he will most likely achieve a 1:1 ratio. In fact, everything worked so well that some comments suggest creating a kit for enthusiasts. That doesn't sound bad at all...
