Lately I’ve been blogging a lot about my life outside of engineering; and that’s pretty unfortunate, considering how awesome engineering really is. That’s why I’m going to switch it up a bit, and tell you a little bit about my Senior Design Project! My team and I are re-designing the glider launcher used by AME 105 students (that’s the Intro to Aerospace Class). Every year, the Intro students build gliders and try to test for the optimum speed of launch. Right now, the gliders are launched on the 20-something-year-old apparatus that you see below:
Note: The actual gliders are 5x bigger than this!
Here’s another view so you can see how big it is:
…And that’s me next to it!
Working off of the old system, we’re re-designing a better launcher that is much lighter, more durable, and provides more consistent launches. We have until the end of the semester to build it, test it, and compile our report! Luckily, my group members are great to work with as well as super motivated. We’re ordering the motor tomorrow, and we already have a lot of the parts. It’s great to do hands-on work, meanwhile knowing the theory behind it!
(Some of the theory behind it).
