User:Dpatel0546/ENES-100/project 1

Week0 Preferences
Airplane float


 * Design a rubber band powered airplane to compete in a competition
 * Goal is to have the airplane stay in the air the longest
 * Make the airplane as light as possible while still functional

Week2 Narrative
Tasks:
 * Research proper and light weight propellers and how to make one.
 * Test out rubber bands with different lengths to see which length lasted the longest.

Research:
 * 4 blade versus 2 blade propeller. 4 blade will increase drag allowing the rubber band to slow and maximize propulsion. 4 blade will also increase weight pulling the float downward. 2 blade can be altered to increase drag by positioning blades at an increased diagonal rather than 45 degrees. 2 bladed propeller would be half as light as the 4 bladed if it is made from the same material.
 * ways to increase drag and/or slow the unwinding of the rubber band down. increase the size of propeller allowing the rubber band to unwind at a slower rate. putting the rubber band through a cylinder type shape causing fiction and slowing down the turns.

Things to consider for the future
 * glue versus tape and the weight either of them will add to the whole float.
 * material used for body the same or different from the propeller.

Tasks: Materials:
 * Making propellers
 * Testing out the propellers
 * Wooden Skewers(about 8in skewers)
 * Scissors
 * Saran wrap
 * Elmer's glue

What i did:
 * Took 2 wooden skewers and cut them in half(4in each)
 * Glued the 4 skewers into a diamond.
 * Did the same thing again to make the second blade.

Result:
 * Need better gluing supplement
 * 1 blade turned out larger due to the glue not drying properly

Next steps:
 * Try instant glue or any other quick sticking glues
 * Instead of creating a diamond propeller have 2 separate ovals and glue them on a stick
 * Make and test more models and designs

Week3 Narrative
Tasks: Result:
 * Create new propeller design
 * Test the old vs the new design
 * The old (diamond shaped) design tested 2 times 4s and 6s and then broke and fell apart.
 * New design (shown in pic) tested multiple times but for comparison purposes i only recorded the first 2 trials. Times: 8s and 12s.

Next steps:
 * Hear from rest of the group about their experiments and ask them for critique of my design.
 * Put together all ideas and knowledge gained from experimenting by each member.
 * Work on increasing flight time.

Week4 Narrative
Flight Test (from the second i let go of the propeller to the second the plane hits the ground) Trial 1 Time: 2.3 seconds(paper propeller)
 * Without rubber band: when i moved the plane forward, the propeller moved counterclockwise. Propeller is supposed to move clockwise in order for it to move the plane forward.
 * With rubber band: I turned propeller counterclockwise so it would unwind clockwise. planes propeller was going against its will.

Trial 2 Time: 1.6 seconds(wooden propeller)

Test was not successful because it not meet the goal of a 30 second + flight time.

Observations made while testing:
 * Plane(when launched) went downward
 * Propeller built incorrectly(did not naturally spin clockwise) which made it less aerodynamic by increasing friction against the wind.

Objective:
 * Design an adjustable front wing. Plane went downward during the test because the front wing was too far from the nose(front tip/start of the plane) 2 inches. There was nothing to lift the plane up.
 * Back tail/wing had little to no purpose. 2 inches wide in length is not enough to support the plane and increase lift.
 * Increase the total length of the entire plane including the body (10 inches), front wings( 18 inches by 4.5 inches), back wings (2 by 2 inches).
 * Redesign the propeller so it spins the correct way.

Progress: cut the 8 inch wooden skewers in half(long ways) and create the diamond shape(3 inches wide, 6 inches long), place on top of saran wrap and glue. Place the 8 inch long skewer in the middle(3 inches) of the propeller(shown in picture) repeat to create 2nd blade. cut out 2 inch long skewer and use that as a center piece. each end is twisted 15 degrees which creates the tilt on the propeller.
 * Propeller: (Wooden skewers, knife, gorilla glue, saran wrap)

3 layers of skewers glued together. 21 inches long. lay 3 skewers horizontally each side, 1 vertically each side and the middle(7.5 inches long, 20.5 inches wide) cut and glue 2 (2.5 inches) skewers coming out from the middle(see picture for reference)
 * Body: (wooden skewers, gorilla glue)
 * Front wing: (wooden skewers, gorilla glue, saran wrap)

lay 2 skewers horizontally each side, 1 vertically each side and the middle(4.5 inches long, 14.5 inches wide) over lap, intersection were 2 pieces and next to each other, with 2 inches skewers to insure stability. Glue back wing in the very back(no parts hanging off in the back. Put each wing on the tip of your finger(make sure wing is centered) and check in wing is lopsided. if so, apply small pieces of tap on the lighter side to even the wing's weight out.
 * Back wing: (wooden skewers, gorilla glue, saran wrap)

Test(new model):

Test was done with out propeller.(clock started when plane was thrown, stopped when it touched the ground)launched from 6 ft

Times: 5.19 seconds, 6.02 seconds, and 5.86 seconds (this is just hang time, plane is not being moved forward or upward)

Post launch: Plane took brutal hits when it landed on the ground. gorilla glue is ever effective and strong, if i had used Elmer's glue the plane would have broken by now. I am gonna look into why the plane(when launched) tends to come backwards

Next steps:
 * Ways to increase lift
 * (rubber band unwinding too fast) ways to slow down rubber band