The B2 Spirit Stealth Bomber was a source of inspiration when looking for better designs for the AEV. Team G wants to ensure that there is the least amount of drag possible when running the AEV, so that it can run most effectively.
http://www.northropgrumman.com/Capabilities/B2SpiritBomber/Pages/default.aspx
Team G looked over designs of the best possible wing shape for the AEV to further promote efficiency.
https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/shape.html
Research Topics:
Battery Testing
Track Comparison
Battery Testing
From the tests completed, it is shown that, as distance of the trials increases, so does the voltage. This was already assumed before completing these tests, so this confirmed the group’s thinking. Also, as the trial numbers continued, it was assumed that the voltage would go down as the trials continued because the trials are being done back-to-back, causing higher stress than usual on the battery. This did not occur and it seems like more volts were needed for future trials than the ones beforehand because the battery had already been in use recently before hand. For our third trial, the test was not as close between trials one and two, so that may be why the voltage is low compared to trial two.
Track Comparison
From the data collected, the slanted track will require more energy to run without any issues on the slanted track than that of the straight track. When testing the AEV, code (Provided in the code section of our website) will need to be adjusted accordingly when switching between the two tracks. Motor speed used on the slanted track should be converted to a 1:.87 ratio when switching to the straight track. This was calculated by comparing the energy values in the table provided.
Final Perofmance Test used 201.074 total Joules and took a time of 53 seconds to complete.