RUNNING HEAD: PROJECT ZEPHYR PROGRESS REPORT 10 1

Project Zephyr

Progress Report 10

Vallabi Vallaban

Kelly Crocker

Noah Wong

March 23, 2017

Objective:

This time was mainly spent constructing the blimp frame from foam board and epoxy while

beginning the design of the propulsion system and electronics.

Previous Objective:

The time period was spent beginning the construction of the foam blimp frame as well as writing

the code that will ultimately fly the blimp.

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Materials and Methods

Progress has begun on a script to run the blimps motor-based propulsion system.

Although no real testing can be done at this time, as the blimp is not yet constructed, trial runs of

the script with simulated motor systems have been promising. These simulations run with the

assumption that, at such a time that the blimp is in flight, any force/torque due to air currents will

be negligible and that the blimp will maintain its altitude more or less of its own accord with

constant and even upward propulsion. Furthermore, the simulations accuracy is dependent on

the axiom that the propellers of the blimp are mechanically functional and that every part of it

functions as intended.

The blimps electronic systems are still in a beta-level prototype stage. Tests to have the

sensor react to the presence of high concentrations of CO (the levels which come out of the tail

pipe of one Ford Mustang GT for example) have been successful. Although data can be collected

(and most probably stored) by the current set-up, such data would be entirely binary (that is to

say it would be boolean) and only indicate if the level of CO is over a given limit (evidently built

into the sensor itself) or not, but not what that level is. Data from such a simplistic version of the

sensor setup would be useless, and therefore progress in ongoing to improve upon the precision

and accuracy of the sensor array.

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Figure 1: The rudder of the blimp was designed in Autodesk Inventor.

The rudder design for the blimp has been finalized and conceptualized through Autodesk

Inventor. It features a design based off of that of pre-existing airships and will be flush with the

body of the blimp to decrease drag and aim for a more seamless integration into the blimps

directional guidance systems. The rudder itself will be 3D printed using PLA or ABS filament to

ensure structural integrity and ensure it will be able to take the stress of directing an entire

airship without buckling under pressure. In addition, it will be powered using a small DC motor

that will allow it to pivot along the x-axis and turn according to the flight pattern it has been

programmed to run through.

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Figure 2: The center support was epoxied to the center piece of the outer strut.

The first step of constructing the blimp frame was using epoxy to join the center support

with the outer strut it will be supporting. All epoxied parts were brushed with epoxy and allowed

to set for 15 minutes before the pieces were joined together. Pressure was applied for

approximately 1 minute before the pieces were allowed to bond on their own.
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Figure 3: The center beam was constructed to be 2m long.

The center beam is critical because it is the basis of the entire support structure. All of the

center supports will attach to it in the middle with epoxy. The struts will attach at either end. The

beam was constructed from 16 pieces that were epoxied together and pressure was applied with

clamps to encourage a firm joint.

Figure 4: The angular pieces were cut so that they had a 60 degree angle.
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Because the total angle of the joints connecting the center piece of the strut with the other

two angular sections needed to be 150 degrees, the joint will be composed of one 90 degree

component and another 60 degree component. The section modified to have a 60 degree angle is

shown in Figure 4. Figure 5 shows the product when they were joined together to form the 150

degree angle that will connect the center piece of the strut to the center beam.

Figure 5: The 60 degree and 90 degree components were joined together to form a 150 degree

angle.
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Data and Results

There were no data or results as this time was spent on construction.

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Works Cited

There were no resources used during this time period.