Sailplane Thermal Detector Team 1723 UConn ECE Dept; Advisor Dr. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Sailplane Thermal Detector Team 1723 UConn ECE Dept; Advisor Dr. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Sep 09, 2023 476 likes •715 views

Sailplane Thermal Detector Team 1723 UConn ECE Dept; Advisor Dr. Helena Silva Nicholas Chapman Alex Dawkins William Pawelcyzk Kevin Waligora Overview: What is a glider? Its an airplane without an engine. It is heavier than air. It uses

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Sailplane Thermal Detector

Team 1723 UConn ECE Dept; Advisor Dr. Helena Silva Nicholas Chapman Alex Dawkins William Pawelcyzk Kevin Waligora

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Overview: What is a glider?

It’s an airplane without an engine. It is heavier than air. It uses the surrounding air (thermals) as its source of lift.

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Overview: What is a thermal?

A column of rising air Caused by sun’s heating

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Need for a Thermal Finder

Thermals are invisible Increased flight time and safety Helps students and competitive pilots

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Airport Trip -- Market Research

We aren’t glider pilots. We went to meet some and see what features they’d like.

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Design Requirements

Sensors shall not modify the wing Has to be wireless per request Interface must be simple Must fit onto multiple wing shapes Must be somewhat aerodynamic

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User Interface Concept

Incremental display to show strength of thermal

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Principle of Operation

Detector works by comparing wingtip conditions.

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Device Design

Three microcontrollers: one per wingtip, one in the cockpit. Selected the Adafruit Feather line (Arduino)

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Mechanical Design of Device Housing

3-D printed PLA Semi- Aerodynamic Interior hole allows airflow Rubber seal on bottom Secured with bendable sheet Further secured with tape

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Progress - Bench Testing

  • 1. Ordered and received parts
  • 2. Tested sensors
  • 3. Tested wireless communication
  • 4. Tested SD card logging
  • 5. Combined wireless, temp, and logging
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Findings

  • 1. Temperature sensors are rather quick to respond.
  • 2. The sensors agree with each other to the nearest .1 deg C.
  • 3. Sensors can read up to 4Hz.
  • 4. Wireless range is more than far enough.
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Progress - Car Testing

Car Mirrors simulate wings and car moves at glider speed.

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Progress - Car Testing

Car Test Video:

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Results - Car Testing

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Results - Car Testing

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Results - Car Testing

Temp Sensors are GOOD! Temperatures drift apart at low speeds Quick deviations are visible Conclusion: good for sensing thermals

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Next Steps

Make sensor and logging equipment more robust Test on an airplane to log flight data Analyze data to see what thermals look like Design a display and code thermal sensing logic Test again in flight Refine

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1738

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Alternate Solutions

Thermistor

Relatively quick temperature reading Inexpensive Only as good as your ADC

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Questions