Hypervolution (Aetherwing)

Description

Mola-mola-inspired flapping aircraft, hyperbolic-geometry wing concept.

Development Log

2024-02-14 — Hypervolution-XH4 testflight 13.02.24 — I had this idea that hyperbolic geometry could provide a groundbreaking and expansive approach to designing wings and aircraft shapes. Traditional geometry is static and planar, but hypergeometry is all about dynamism and pushing boundaries, with every inch charged with potential. Due to the negative curvature of space, curves are more extended and encompass a larger area. I envision that an advantageous aerodynamic shape could accelerate and stabilize an aircraft, effectively reducing overall air resistance or optimizing lift. I’ve started to construct a prototype as simply as possible, and if it proves successful, I plan to scale up to a larger version equipped with vector thrust for VTOL capabilities as a tailsitter. The wingspan is set at 900mm, crafted from Pichler Superboard and reinforced with carbon rods. It lacks a vertical stabilizer; instead, I intend to manage its control purely through spoilervaterons and without the aid of a gyro.
2024-02-16 — [uncut FPV] Hypervolution-XH4 testflight 14.02.24 — An fpv testflight of Hypervolution XH4. It can be noted that a gyro would be nice but it can be flown without, however i need more testing where the exact CG should be that allow better efficiency and lift of the hind wing, and stability of YAW. Also the pusher propeller’s vector is going a bit underneath vertical CG, so its creating a little pitch-up moment, this could be fixed by elevator throttle mixing or gyro, but in a larger version vector thrust would be preferable. wingspan: 900mm motor: 1507 2700kv brushless motor battery: 650mah 4s lipo
2024-05-04 — Hypervolution XH-4 TestFlights
2025-08-19 — Hypervolution XH5F Aetherwingmovement test 20.08.25 — Here we present a new ornithopter design which is inspired by the mola mola, sunfish, which made an evolution to conquer the skies, by growing larger fins and a more airfoil shaped body. This model is designed as a hyper efficient flapping aircraft which has a lot of space for carrying passengers without any turbine noises and instead a rhythmically dampened wing beat. Hypervolution XH5F: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showatt.php?attachmentid=19460763 This design is very unique because an ornithopter has not been combined with a lifting body nor in a canard like configuration. The model uses an outward flapping angle, opposite to my other models which use an inward flapping angle. This is because their wings are at the front and by the inward flapping the pitch momentum during flapping has more pressure which results in some tail flapping. In this model however the outward flapping angle is necessary to achieve a geometric phase cancellation, which is needed because of the wings are distance to CG that would otherwise result in up and down movement of the back, this way a fish like motion will be achieved that uses vacuum in front of its nose for efficient movement. . The outward angle of the wings also results in more efficient control dynamic: when wings are lowered, that will result in a pitch up deflection of the wings, that reduces their lift, and when wings are raised they are also deflected in the way that they have a higher angle of incidence which results in more lift in the back. Also unlike the XH4 predecessor of this plane, we have added a tail, that makes this design a three-surface-aircraft. It became evident to me that this necessary for a number of reasons. mainly because unlike a conventional canard, the lifting body will not stall quickly because of its deep aerodynamic airfoil, unlike the thin slim hind wings, they stall more easy although this stalling stabilized the aircraft by drag, more elevator was required, but that effectively reduces their surface area and introduced unnecessary drag, hence the right answer were to add a small taillet, allowing the wings make use of their full surface area for lift and reducing drag at the same time. The Taillet is also 3-fold (hence each wing and the body have their own) and are inspired by the caudal appendage of butterflies; this design allows a good improvement of stall tolerance and stability, while minimising drag. In this model the caudal appendages of the wings are moved by the wings using a lever and increase the effect of the outward flapping angle of the wings, which increases the authority of their control mode and the effect of geometric phase cancellation. All in all i think this should be one of the most efficient aircraft ever… For Reference: I made some aircraft models similar to this shape in the past , e.g. a VTOL quadplane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E66i6A4kzfs and the predecessor of this model, Hypervolution XH4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE9JrpWtJ8M more explanation about the model can be found here: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?4501383-Hypervolution-XH4-Exploring-Hyperbolic-Geometry-in-Wing-Design
2025-08-24 — Hypervolution XH5F Aetherwing Testflight 24.08.25 — first testflight was good. modal can climb and is controllable, however pitch authority lacked because of too much fixed elevator which mostly diminished glide performance. i will reintroduce the coupled elevator from previous demonstration video.
2025-09-11 — Hypervolution XH5F Aetherwing Testflight with paint 07.09.25 — The model got a mysterious paint that makes it look like a strange life form from the future, painting however also added a little bit of extra weight. Few changes were tried improving the efficiency and climb ability of the model, but it still has only slight climbing ability. It has been showing that model flight is more efficient when the CG is more at front and it flies faster, thus the airfoil of lifting body becomes more effective. However it was difficult find a setting that allows flapping without too much anhedral and at the same time offers a long glide. the TestFlights in the videos had a setting in which glide unnecessarily slowed down the model, i will change the wing design a bit to address this issue.