User:Hsingh8658/enes100/AirPlane Float

this link back to project page Airplane_Float/Howard_community_college/fall2011/502_Floaters

Give instructor top 3 project choice list
Typically the instructor picks teams. Students send the instructor their top 3 choices. The project choices are typically those found at Category:General_Engineering_Projects. The instructor tries to put students in the project of their choice. Put your top three choices here after they are used to assign you to this project. Create a link to the project root and to where your team will be working.

1. Airplane Float 2. Helicopter 3. Ballbot

Write problem statement
This project is a new project, so we have to start everything from beginning. The weight and dimensions of the plane which would be ideal for flying should be figured. Material required for making plane should be selected, keeping in mind the weight of the plane.

Assign Task1
I'm going to watch photos and videos of airplanes that float to figure out size, shape and weight of the plane. I'm also going to do some research on how professionals make those airplanes.

Compare actual work done to Task1
Rationalize differences

Watched videos on youtube of F1D flying competitions and found that those planes float for an about hour and weight of the plane plays an important role. A typical plane weighs about one gram. I also looked a site that shows the making of indoor floating planes. They use microfilms for wings and very thin(1/32)'' basalt wood for ribs and rolled basalt sheets for base but these materials are not available in hardware stores like home depot or ace, so I think we should use very thin sticks of wood for ribs and very thin cellophane sheet for wings.

Week1 Narrative
Upload photos to wikimedia. Upload video to youtube. Convert all spreadsheets, documents, and presentations to wiki format and create wiki subpage of your page for each of them. Link to them here in a narrative that tells a story. High light the problems (engineering problems) you had and how you solved them.

Week1 Peer Review
Go to each team mates weekly summary wiki page. Read their activities and narrative. Then go the associated discussion page. Say something positive on this page. Try some constructive criticism. Add your name and 1sfoerster 13:32, 28 August 2011 (UTC) to create a time and date stamp. Create a new category if another team mate has already commented here.

Assign Task2
Will buy cellophane sheets and other stationary and will discuss my structure of plane with other team members and will start working on our project in class.

Compare actual work done to Task2
We brought wood, cellophane sheets, and other stationary to the class and from different wood samples, we selected the ones that were very thin and flexible. Then we discussed about the structure of the plane and compared the structures and sizes of the plan of each other. Then we started making the structure of wings. So, work done was same as assigned in task 2.

Week2 Narrative
Upload photos to wikimedia. Upload video to youtube. Convert all spreadsheets, documents, and presentations to wiki format and create wiki subpage of your page for each of them. Link to them here in a narrative that tells a story. High light the problems (engineering problems) you had and how you solved them.

http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/File:Airplane_float_floatters_2.jpg

http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/File:Airplane_float_floatters_3.jpg

http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/File:Airplane_float_floatters_4.jpg

Before starting working on making the plane, we had argues about the dimensions and structure of plane but then we agreed that main wing will be (18 X 5)in and back wing will be (9 X 3)in. We also had argues about the thickness of the wood for ribs and for base but then we agreed for thinest and most flexible wood for ribs and stiffer wood for base. Main wing was made rectangular with extended ends which were 45 degrees to the wings. We tried to make back wing elliptical but the wood was not that flexible, so I soaked the wood in water for 10 minutes to make it flexible. The wood become flexible but this plan didn't worked because we didn't had any base to hold wood on place till it dries and it was hard to hold wood in its shape, so we decided to make back wing of the same shape as the main wing, i.e., rectangular. Then we worked on covering main and back wings with thin plastic sheets. I put glue on the structure while Adnan hold the structure and spread plastic sheet on it. Amount of glue to be used was an important part as more glue will make holes in the thin plastic, so amount of glue should be just enough to hold plastic and glue has to be evenly spread and we have to do this in first try because removing plastic will destroy our structure of wings. Me and Adnan did it and the plastic was very evenly spread.

http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/File:Air123.jpg

The next task was to attach wings to the base but the wood used for base seemed heavy and so I gave the the idea of rolling paper and using it as a base. I told my team members to think about it over the weekend and come up with their ideas about the type of paper that would be suitable for our project.

Week2 Peer Review
Done

Assign Task3
Record what you are planning on doing for the team during the weekend between week2 and week3 of the project here.

I'm trying learn more about propeller; how it works, what is the good size for propeller for our plane with main wing dimensions of (18X5)'' and what should be the angle of propeller. I'm also comparing rubber band propellers and propellers that don't work on rubber but on force with which the plane is released.

Another task is to find a paper that when rolled is lighter than wood and is strong enough to hold the weight of plane.

Compare actual work done to Task3
I looked for many plans for propeller but most of them required Balsa wood, they used A-grain, B-grain and C-grain balsa wood for different parts but we don't have balsa wood and the wood we have didn't have any special properties like those used by professionals, so keeping in mind the material we have, I made my own design for propeller. Then we worked on that design in class and made the propeller. After that we attached all parts to base to make the airplane. After attaching all parts together we tried a test flight but it not very successful, probably because our propeller was a bit too heavy. I was assigned to look for the design for propeller and I made the design and designed it according to the materials we have. Our goal was to finish the propeller this week but we not only made propeller but also attached all parts of the plane and did a test flight too.

Week3 Narrative
Upload photos to wikimedia. Upload video to youtube. Convert all spreadsheets, documents, and presentations to wiki format and create wiki subpage of your page for each of them. Link to them here in a narrative that tells a story. High light the problems (engineering problems) you had and how you solved them.

I was assigned the task to make a design for propeller. I looked many plans and designs, some of them are,

http://www.indoorduration.com/IndoorDurationBHuntF1DPlans.htm

http://www.indoorduration.com/ftp/DoubleTroubleSO.pdf

http://www.indoorduration.com/IndoorDurationDarrylStevensF1D.htm

http://www.indoorduration.com/ftp/F1LSweeps.pdf

http://www.indoorduration.com/ftp/CompressionRib.pdf

Most of these designs use different types of Balsa wood which is very flexible, light and strong, and is ideal for these kinds of models, but we were not able to get Balsa wood as it is not available in any of the local hardware stores. These designs though gave me an idea of basic design of a propeller but these were not suitable for our project as our wood was not that strong and flexible. So, I thought of making four parts of propeller individually and then gluing them together. This way we don't have to use more flexible wood and we can adjust the angle while gluing. Parts of a propeller http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/File:Airplane_123.jpg

I and my team members worked on this design in class. We made four parts, each of which was 7in long and the circumference was 9in. Then thin plastic sheet was carefully glued to all four parts and then they were attached at angles such that the propeller rotates when air hits it perpendicularly from forward direction. Plastic propeller from an airplane model was used for reference.

Parts attached http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/File:Airplane_14141414.jpg

Creating the angle of the propeller (pitch) http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/File:Aiplane125.jpg

Final propeller http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/File:Plane_pic_3.jpg

Then we started working on base for the plane. Last week we thought of rolling paper instead of wood but were not able to find suitable paper. If we roll regular paper, its weight was same as two sticks of the thin wood we used to make wings of airplane. Also paper was not giving a good support for propeller. So, we decided to glue two thin strips of wood and use them as base.

After that all the parts of plane were attached to the base wood. Propeller was attached using small attachments( http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/File:Airplane_129.jpg ) which Darnelle found in back room. After attaching every part, we did a test flight in the hallway but it was not very successful. Then we went outside and tried to fly it, it float but not for a long time. I think it was because of the weight of the plane. Our plane was heavier than expected, especially propeller. We have to work on propeller to make it lighter. Test Flight http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/File:Air_view.jpg

Week3 Peer Review
Done

Assign Task4
My task is to look for the ways to make our plane lighter and also to find ways to make a rubber band motor that is very light and which can elongate the flight of our airplane.

Compare actual work done to Task4
Rationalize differences

I worked on the structure of propeller, found some ways to make it lighter. We all made propellers of different materials and I worked on propeller made of wires and covered with thin plastic sheet. My propeller didn't worked as the structure was not very stable. Though it was very light but the vibrations due to air were causing problems. The same was the problem with the one that has a frame of foam. Finally, we made the whole propeller of the light foam and it worked. No progress was made on rubber motor which we planned to make to power the plane with rubber.

Week4 Narrative
Upload photos to wikimedia. Upload video to youtube. Convert all spreadsheets, documents, and presentations to wiki format and create wiki subpage of your page for each of them. Link to them here in a narrative that tells a story. High light the problems (engineering problems) you had and how you solved them.

To make the plane lighter, we all were making different propellers. I made the propeller of wire. The wire was flexible, very light and was capable to retain its shape. The dimensions of this propeller were same as the previous one, i.e., 14in in length. It was turning very well, but when we tested on the plane it didn't worked very well because air was causing vibrations in the propeller. These vibrations were shaking the propeller and the plane was not able to float for long. We made another propeller with the structure of styrofoam but it had the same problem. Our third structure was of thin wood. It was hard to make structure with that thin wood (dia 1/32 in) because it broke every time we were about to finish the propeller. Our fourth propeller was made all of styrofoam and it was the best out of four as it was stable and was with minimum vibrations.

Final propeller http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/File:Propeller_3.jpg

We tested this propeller on our airplane and it worked better than previous propellers as it was stable than other propellers and was light too.

http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/File:Propeller_5.jpg

Week4 Peer Review
Go to each team mates weekly summary wiki page. Read their activities and narrative. Then go the associated discussion page. Say something positive on this page. Try some constructive criticism. Add your name and 1sfoerster 13:33, 28 August 2011 (UTC) to create a time and date stamp. Create a new category if another team mate has already commented here.

Complete Project Page
Follow the "project done" format.

Done

Start Next Project Week0 activities
During this week you will perform the week0 activities of the next project.

Trying to understand the concepts of Bernoulli effect and coanda and trying to find differences between these effects