Jan HusakPortfolio 2026
Project Volans / Test and analysis / #03

Faust propulsion bench

A test stand that measures thrust, power and rpm of Faust's motor and propeller before the drone is built.

Part of
Project Volans
Area
Test and analysis
Status
Design in progress
In the loop
Outside the loop, before it
01 / What it does

The project

  • One motor with its propeller is spun from 0 to 100 % throttle while thrust, current, voltage and rpm are logged.
  • The result is grams of thrust per watt for the exact motor and prop, and from there the hover throttle and flight time.
  • It runs under a written safety procedure, with a cage around the propeller and a loop-key that cuts power.
Thrust5 kg load cell with HX711
PowerINA226 with a 50 A shunt
SpeedInfrared rpm sensor
LoggerArduino Nano, data to the laptop
OutputThrust and power curves for each propeller
02 / Why

What it gives Volans

It decides whether the drone design holds up before money is spent on it, and gives the digital twin (#9) measured curves instead of datasheet guesses.

03 / Plan

Steps and targets

  1. 01Bench design and build guideDone
  2. 02Buy, solder and calibrateNext
  3. 03Throttle sweeps and plotsPlanned
  4. 04Decide on the drone partsPlanned

Success looks like

  • Repeatable thrust readings after calibration
  • Thrust and power curves for the main and a comparison propeller