Introduction
In this project, I went through the process of designing, building, and testing a glider. This project helped solidify my understanding of the design process while also challenging my knowledge of flight. I used several programs and tools such as Aery, Inventor, and the laser cutter to aid in the designing and construction phases of the project.
Glider Design requirements
1. Sustain flight over the longest possible distance in a straight line.
2. Utilize standard AERY software format for design development and output.
3. Utilize construction materials specified by your teacher e.g. Balsa wood and adhesives.
4. Have decorations that are creative and attractive.
5. Be durable enough to survive normal launch, flight and landing conditions with little or no harm to its structure.
6. Be able to be launched by catapult of a design specified by your teacher.
2. Utilize standard AERY software format for design development and output.
3. Utilize construction materials specified by your teacher e.g. Balsa wood and adhesives.
4. Have decorations that are creative and attractive.
5. Be durable enough to survive normal launch, flight and landing conditions with little or no harm to its structure.
6. Be able to be launched by catapult of a design specified by your teacher.
Aery glider Design Software
Initially, I developed two glider designs in the attempt to familiarize myself with the Aery program:
Specific configurations were imputed to account for the limitations on the sizes of the actual glider parts:
Thus, with the limits on potential configurations, I created my final glider design:
Inventor
Using Inventor, I modeled the individual components of my glider design, and used them to create two assemblies. The second assembly used a modified fuselage with cutouts to allow the wing and horizontal stabilizer to be flush with the fuselage. Lastly, I used inventor to properly format the glider parts to be cut out by the laser cutter.
Assemblies
Printout format
Construction and flights
The glider components were cut via a laser cutter, and were constructed using high quality wood glue. Once ready to fly, I completed and recorded several tests flights to determined directional instabilities with my glider. These issues could be adjusted by changing the distribution of weight throughout the glider by adding clay.
Final Flights
After optimising the traits of my glider, I completed three final flights. The results were fantastic, as at this point, I had worked out nearly all kinks in directional stability.
First Flight
Distance: 75ft Pitch Stability: Yes Directional Stability: Yes
Second Flight
Distance: 72 ft Pitch Stability: Yes Directional Stability: Slight yaw to the right
Third Flight
Distance: 80 ft Pitch Stability: Yes Directional Stability: Yes
First Flight
Distance: 75ft Pitch Stability: Yes Directional Stability: Yes
Second Flight
Distance: 72 ft Pitch Stability: Yes Directional Stability: Slight yaw to the right
Third Flight
Distance: 80 ft Pitch Stability: Yes Directional Stability: Yes
conclusions
1) The Aery printout omits important information such as fuselage width/depth, wing/horizontal stabilizer/vertical stabilizer depth, and type of wood. Additionally, it contains a lot of numbers associated with technical terms that are generally redundant. Therefore, it would be understandable if someone had some issues modeling my glider from the information present in the Aery printout.
2) Creating constraints certainly impacted my final glider design versus my original design. Limitations on wing size and fuselage length, specifically, were impacted by the constraints we applied. Ultimately, this was beneficial, as my glider was rather small, so it moved quickly and efficiently.
3) Firstly, I would spend more time testing different ratios of fuselage-wing-horizontal stabilizer-vertical stabilizer combinations. I would try to get my Aery evaluation number closer to 200. Secondly, I would put more effort in being precise with the construction process. In all honesty, I did a poor job aligning the wings and horizontal stabilizer properly.
2) Creating constraints certainly impacted my final glider design versus my original design. Limitations on wing size and fuselage length, specifically, were impacted by the constraints we applied. Ultimately, this was beneficial, as my glider was rather small, so it moved quickly and efficiently.
3) Firstly, I would spend more time testing different ratios of fuselage-wing-horizontal stabilizer-vertical stabilizer combinations. I would try to get my Aery evaluation number closer to 200. Secondly, I would put more effort in being precise with the construction process. In all honesty, I did a poor job aligning the wings and horizontal stabilizer properly.