Sunday, January 13, 2013

13-Jan-2013

Thesis Project
This week I was able to finish all the design documentation for the last design iteration of my project.  I'm not going to post all the details here (this was about 25 pages) but I'll post the comments I made for what I need to change for the next design iteration.

Aero Design


-The target Aspect Ratio and Wing Loading need to be looked at closer, including representative values from relevant real-world Aircraft.
-The Front/Back Airfoils should be chosen more carefully, potentially using the AirfoilOptimizer program I developed in MatLab (and XFLR).

Actuator Design

-A complete solution for attaching the Carbon Fiber Spars with the Shaft Rods still requires some investigation in the next Iteration but may need some good prototyping/testing to fully accomplish.

Structure Design

-Need to have some way of mounting Spar Support to Fuselage for next Design Iteration.
-Need more work/research to strengthen fuselage platform from flexing for next Design Iteration.
-Look into having wheeled landing gear to perform V/STOL Operations.

Electrical Design

·         -Perform motor testing to determine actual current draw and lifting force.
·        -Build/test all major Electronics this Semester.
·        -Mike Welling is currently desiging/building a Daughterboard for the Parallax Quickstart Board.  This will be used to actuate the Servo’s and handle any/all optional sensors/lights/actuators.

S    Software Design
·        -Communication between Primary (APM) Board and Secondary (Quickstart) Board
·         -Flowchart and define software requirements better.

      Weight Budget
·        -Reduce the weight of the Fuselage by by 25% by reducing the length of the Fuselage and making the Bottom Lid out of a lighter material, such as a plastic wrap material in the next Iteration.

      Bill of Materials
·        -Still need to do more research on a good RC Transmitter/Receiver and Battery Charger.

     For Next Week
      Although I have my next semester of school starting next week, I would still like to do the following:
-     -Do some more analysis/selection on the electric rotor motors.
      -Work on some software flowcharting/requirements definitions.





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