End of Week Two

The first week is in the books and it was a productive one!  We were able to recruit a lot of help and volunteers continue to show up as the word spreads.  At last count we have 30 members plus 3 advisors on board!  We have divided the group up into four teams, each with their own focus: Power, Propulstion, Airfoils and Airframe.  The meetings times for now are Monday and Wednesday at 12:00 and Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 2:00.

Week two accomplished the following things:

• Power
• Obtain NiCd batteries from Professor Mason
• Begin testing batteries for output
• Propulsion
• Fabricated a testing apparatus to obtain thrust values from different systems
• Began testing on an electric ducted fan
• Airfoils
• Hand sanded a wing from scratch
• Designed and built a hot wire foam cutter (learned to appreciate it compared to hand-sanding)
• Airframes
• Worked on optimizing the scoring formula to determine best design
• Looked through different existing designs

 

Week three will focus on the following things:

• Power
• Determine NiCd vs NiMh
• How many cells for 1.5 lbs
• How long will battery last at full power (20 amps)
• Feasibility of splitting into two packs for multiple engines
• Propulsion
• Continuing testing of prop vs ducted fan
• Look into placing ducted fans in series (turbine)
• Look at different prop designs
• Airfoils
• Continuing to perfect the hot wire cutting technique
• Build different wing types for testing (symmetrical, flat-bottom, under-camber, etc)
• Look into building wind tunnel if we can't get access to Aero Dept
• Design testing rig for in the wind tunnel to gain lift and drag components from wing
• Airframes
• Get rockets for sizing and design consideration
• Complete optimization of scoring formula
• Analyze three designs for testing

Week three will also be home to the first fundraising activity.  We will be selling tamales and drinks as well as any baked goods that anyone wants to bring.  This money will go towards buying some of the supplies that we need.