Preliminary Design

Dawson’s design focuses on aerodynamics which allows air to move more efficiently over the AEV and in turn allow the motors to work less which lowers the AEV’s overall energy consumption. The arm that attaches to the rail is secured closely to the center of the AEV to improve stability. The motors face backwards, pushing the AEV forward. The design of Dawson’s AEV is estimated to weight around 0.463 lbs and would cost about $205.00.

Wes’ design focuses on evenly distributing the weight for stability. Two wings in the front help cut the air while also holding the cargo in place. The battery is located in the middle and the motors are located in the back with the arm in the center. This allows the AEV to be very stable while performing it’s tasks. Despite having the wings in the front, the aerodynamics are lacking and therefore would face a lot of air resistance while performing tasks. The estimated weight of this design is 0.47 lbs and the estimated cost is $225.60.

Wil’s design focuses on keeping the AEV lightweight and adding aerodynamics. The two wings in the back are sloped downward to cut through the air. The motors are attached to these wings and will provided lift off of the center of mass as they push the AEV forward and allow it to move quicker. The two wings in the front are sloped upward to hold the cargo as well as help cut through the air. The only downside to this design is that being an open platform  does not allow for air to flow as well over the center of the AEV as it does on the sides which could cause unnecessary use of energy. This design has an estimated weight of 0.467 lbs and the estimated cost is $233.46.

Zach’s design incorporates an aerodynamic nose to help reduce energy consumption by the motors. The motors are also facing forwards much like a regular propeller plane to pull the AEV forward instead of pushing like the other designs. The rear of the AEV has plenty of space to hold cargo. Having the controller components towards the front of the AEV and the cargo towards the back will distribute the weight and allow the AEV to be very stable. However with the open platform design, the cargo could fall out and the overall design would not hold up against multiple runs. The estimated weight of this design is 0.459 lbs and the estimated cost is $193.68.

Some of the sketches focus on aerodynamics which will improve the energy efficiency of the AEV, however adding extra pieces could disturb the stability of the AEV by adding extra weight. Other designs focus on weight distribution rather than aerodynamics. While weight distribution is important for stability, the aerodynamics of these designs require more energy consumption. If we combine the aerodynamics with even weight distribution, we should have a very stable and energy efficient AEV that can meet the requirements and complete the MCR.

Our final preliminary design incorporates aspects of all team member’s designs. When brainstorming this design we used the attribute listing, construction and fail fast methods to create our final design. This design has equal weight distribution for stability and aerodynamics to cut down energy consumption.  We put the arm in the front to allow more weight to be put in the back and because the arm is over the center of mass, the AEV is very stable. It was decided that the motors will be facing forwards so that the AEV will act like a propeller airplane. This was done because rearward facing propeller aircraft use more power to move the same amount of air that a normal propeller aircraft would.