Senior Capstone Design Class

The Design Class learning objectives were changed this academic year to provide additional emphasis on professional ethical issues. Case studies from “Engineering Ethics: Concepts and Cases” were used to stimulate and explore questions the students had about their future professional responsibilities. Author James Chiles came to Akerman Hall and presented a special AEM seminar “A Fracture in the System” highlighting several technological catastrophes from his book “Inviting Disaster: Lessons from the Edge of Technology”. Mr Chiles met with the design class after his presentation to discuss details and answer questions.

Other highlights during the academic year included a classroom presentation by AEM graduate Terry Johnson of Pemstar about ISO 9000, and a trip to Cirrus Design in Duluth where the students saw the engineering, manufacturing and quality control operations for their SR 20 and SR 22 high performance, four place, all composite airplanes. We thank everyone that contributed to our students’ design class experiences.

This year, students were given three design-project options: Autonomous Slow-Flyer (ASF) , Reusable Two Stage to Orbit (R2STO) and Radio Controlled (RC) Launcher. Professor Balas worked with the ASF teams and Professor Vano worked with the R2STO and RC Launcher teams.

The RC model industry has developed very lightweight, electric powered slow-flying airplanes. The objective of the ASF project was to design and integrate a flight control system into an off-the-shelf slow-fly airplane to make it easy to fly (attitude commands in lieu of rate commands), make it autonomous, then down link GPS information and have the airplane fly a search pattern. During Fall Semester, the ASF students were divided into two competing teams then combined into one team during Spring Semester to build and fly their aircraft. The ASF Team included Shannon Farrell, A.J. Piskor, Shaun Leik, David Kubat, Scott Williams, Brandon Crook, Carly Joecks, Nathan Miller, and Richard Russell.

During Fall Semester, the R2STO team prepared a conceptual design of a two stage to orbit vehicle which would provide ISS crew transfer and small satellite launch for the next several decades. The team was split into two groups for Spring Semester: Stage Two Wind Tunnel Model Test Group consisting of Mike Becker, Jennifer Bonin, Kelly Knutson, Ryan Wold, and Camille Yu, and Stage Two RC Model Build/Fly Group consisting of Timothy Bredemus, Adam Creuziger, Andrew Henslin, Jeremy Hill, Jonathan Phillips, Shirin Salber, and Adam Schroeder. The Stage Two Wind Tunnel Model Test Group investigated the subsonic flight characteristics and control surface effectiveness of the design using a scale model in the department’s 38X54 Closed Return Wind Tunnel. For control surfaces, students took two fins of different lengths and tested them at two dihedral angles. The Stage Two RC Model Build/Fly Group then used the configuration determined to be statically stable and controllable to build a flight model scaled to fit on the RC Launcher.

Students on the RC Launcher team designed a large 13 ft wingspan RC airplane to provide a suitable platform to launch the Stage Two RC Model glider. The team was divided into two groups during Spring Semester. A wind tunnel model/test group consisting of Curtis Anderson, Michael Barnhardt, Nenad Bjelogrlic, Travis Ottenbacher, and Daniel Troolin built a scale model of the Fall Semester design and verified it was stable and controllable using the department’s 38X54 Closed Return Wind Tunnel. The remainder of the group, Bryan Henneman, Jason Platz, Nenad Bjelogrlic, Richard Pennertz, Ryan Ingvalson, Steve Herring, Daniel Troolin, Jason Lorfing, and Craig Mueller, built the RC Launcher airplane. The RC Launcher airplane was powered by two Super Tiger 90 engines equipped with 14 inch propellers. The wing was made of composite materials donated by Northwest Airlines. Northwest Airlines also made their autoclave available to form the wing on two molds fabricated by the AEM Shop using Solidworks CAD files generated by the students. Students completed the construction of the RC Launcher and Stage Two RC Model glider but were unable to fly them as they ran out of time. Plans are to fly them in the Fall when students come back to classes.

J-3 Cub Radio Control Model

A small group of students consisting of Neil Gorham, Charlene Knealing, Kim Lay, and Eve Skoog approached Professor Vano to see if they could build a flying RC model. The group worked together to create a student centered project. The objective of the project was to construct an aircraft that will serve as a future test bed for several different experiments, including an existing electronic Data Acquisition System. The plane was completed in early November 2001; the delayed winter allowed the students to make two test flights at the Jensen airfield in Rosemount before the cold and snow kept the students grounded for the winter. The fall test flights went very well for the students. Confident with their two successful fall flights, the students resumed flying in the spring at a somewhat more compact flying field — the west bank river flats. However, during the first spring flight, engine failure, coupled with high winds and pilot error, the aircraft landed in the water and floated down the Mississippi River. Luckily, the University rowing crew was out practicing and was able to recover the model.

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