Plane Launching Platform
Project Overview and Experience:
This project was extremely rewarding. Over the course of 12 weeks, I developed my professional CAD skills in a corporate environment while also considering manufacturing techniques. I have developed my leadership skills while also learning how to work within a company, and I have added countless skills to my engineering toolbelt.
Project CAD Portfolio:
I have personally designed the components within these models. Each render consists of an assembly with over 200 custom components, multiple subassemblies, and three different configurations.
Weeks 1-6 Designs:
(Data Acquisition for Control Systems)
Throughout these six weeks, we constructed the initial steering, braking, and throttle control devices. Our main goal for these few weeks was to gather to use in our ArduPilot PID control system. The main areas of concern were designing a variable steering/turning throughput mode for low-speed and high-speed runs as well as how weight at different locations on the cart affected stability. We ran weekly tests logging all test data to help tune our system. Our top speed with the I.C.E. was 28 miles per hour.
Braking V1
Initial braking design, first time ganging multiple servos. Produced over 100lb of torque.
Steering V1
Initial Steering Design, also ganged design, worked well but front servo reached much higher temperatures than the back.
Overall V1
This is the overall look of the first few weeks of work. The weight box was designed to allow for a movable CG. This cart was used to gather all of the data for the later designs.
Throttle V1
This is the throttle control system for the I.C.E. This system allowed us to test different through put options for our PID tuning while maintaining safety functions.
Weeks 1- 6 Testing Videos:
FPV Footage_Trim.mp4No Governor 50 lbs Manual Mode 1 (Drift)_Trim.mp4Weeks 7-10 Designs:
(Jet Implementation, Steering corrections, and better brakes)
The next few weeks of this internship consisted of strengthening our initial designs as well as designing the jet mounting and damping systems. We first built current checking devices to run in series with each of our ganged servo designs and noticed that although they were connected, the first servo was taking 70% of the total load. during these weeks we focused on the calculations needed to design the plane launching system including wing loading, the aspect ratios of our different plane choices, take-off angles, and launch speed.
Braking V2
After reviewing the previous braking designs, we constructed this model which allows for both deadband between the servos and load discontinunities. This system worked much better than before.
Steering V2
Our previous steering configuration had similar issues to braking and so with this design we got rid of the ganging issue and worked more on damping out high frequency disturbances to help protect the servo.
Overall V2
This overall view shows the construction of the Jet support system. We designed this configuration to be independent of the rear suspension as well as sturdy enough to handle the force of two K70 and one K210 jet engines.
Jets V1
This is the K210 Jet assembly, due to shipping issues we were unable to test with this device and had to go with two K70's in series.
Weeks 11-12 Designs:
(Jet Testing and plane launcher construction)
The main goals of these last two weeks were to get the jets tested along with the plane launching system. We were happy with the steering and braking systems as well as the PID tuning done in the prior weeks. We had completed a modified manual steering mode which allowed for higher turn rates at lower speeds and minimal turning at high speeds for straight launches. The top speed of our final design is mathematically 60 mph with a longer runway but with our availability of roads, it was 30 mph.
Jets V2
The main design challenge of these few weeks was how to safely operate jet engines at ground level on a dusty runway. We developed a filtering system as well as F.O.D. panels to help protect the system from dust and rocks.
Overall V3
This is the final design of this internship. The jets allow for a high speed launch while the pivot system holds the plane down until we are ready for launch.
Jet Assembly Speed Test:
IMG_3324.MOV
Final Product (No-Launch)
We showed off this cart at the Annual Speed Fest Event at Oklahoma State University. We did not include the launching mechanism in this showcase.