RUNNING HEAD: PROJECT ZEPHYR PROGRESS REPORT 13 1

Project Zephyr

Progress Report 13

Kelly Crocker

Noah Wong

Vallabi Vallaban

May 18, 2017

Objective:

The blimp was constructed and testing was completed.

Previous Objective:

During this time, the blimp framework was completed and considerable progress was made on

the electrical components of the project.

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Materials and Methods

The main bulk of the last few weeks was spent constructing the blimp. With the frame

previously completed, the team concentrated on assembling the payload container, constructing a

rudder, and covering the entire frame with Mylar.

The assembly of the payload container deviated from the original plan. The original

design failed to 3D print with sufficient integrity along (size constraints of the print bed

ineffectively printed the rudder model), so the team improvised and used a square metal tin as a

payload container. The components were arranged inside, including the charge controller, 12V to

5V converter, Raspberry Pi, and 3 9V batteries. They were fixed in place with Velcro and the

carbon monoxide sensor was mounted on the lid. The payload container itself was then attached

to the bottom of the foam frame of the blimp with spray adhesive and aluminum tape.

Figure 1: The payload container was designed so that the components would be held in with

Velcro. The felt inside was to provide a barrier between the metal components of the Raspberry

Pi and the metal of the container itself.

The rudder was another component whose creation deviated from the initial plan.

Because of the size and complexity of the rudder, it proved almost impossible to 3D print. The
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team fashioned a rudder out of the same foam as the frame. There were two parts: one that jutted

out perpendicular to the blimp and was stationary and the actual moving part that was facilitated

by two motors attached to the base of the mount connected to the structure of the blimp. By

basing the new improvised design off of the previous CAD drawing originally set to be 3D-

printed, the construction of the foam rudder was just a matter of effectively sizing it to the scale

of the blimp and properly securing it to the frame to prevent any possible leakage of helium.

With the addition of the foam rudder, securing the required motors to either side to allow it to

properly turn.

Figure 2: The blimp is shown nose down with the rudder in the air. The two motors allowing the

rudder to turn are shown here as is the fill tube.

The most time-consuming part of the construction process was covering the blimp with

Mylar. Because of inconsistencies in the frame construction, each panel of Mylar had to be

individually measured, cut, and glued down with an aerosolized adhesive. The seams were then

reinforced with tape. The team also incorporated both a fill tube and bleeder valve. The fill tube
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was to insert helium and was located on the top of the blimp. The bleeder valve was meant to

release air that was taking up volume in the blimp and allow more helium to fit into the structure

providing more lift. The bleeder valve was located on the bottom of the blimp because air is

heavier than helium and would settle to the bottom. The team assessed how airtight the blimp

was by filling it with air from a compressor. The blimp had no problem at first, but the air

pressure quickly lessened. The team plugged the leaks and tried again with better success.

Figure 3: Each individual section of Mylar had to be measured and cut by hand. Most sections

were either trapezoid or triangle shaped.

Finally, the electronic components were wired together and extension wires were

soldered onto the solar panels to allow them to reach to the payload container.
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Figure 4: Each of the five solar panels required two wires connecting it to the payload container

as did each of the five motors.

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Data and Results

Due to a combination of seaming and transportation issues, the dirigible was not

completely air-tight and lost both helium and altitude over time during the first test and

subsequently resulted in a crash of the Zephyr. Below is an image of the state of the blimp (no

longer held by a rigid structure, so no longer a dirigible) afterwards.

Figure 5: During transport, the effects of the wind and tension of the tarp covering the blimp

caused its internal structure to collapse. However, when filled with helium, the blimp expanded

to resemble a sphere.

Clearly no-longer viable, the team had to develop alternate means of testing. The first of

these ideas was to use a recreation sized quadcopter. The electronics had to be modified to bare

minimum viability in order to reduce the weight as much as possible. In the end all that remained

was the Raspberry Pi computer unit, the CO sensor, and the auxiliary lipstick battery. This

load, however, proved too heavy for the 1-foot square quadcopter to handle; even at maximum
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power on full battery it could not gain an inch of altitude under the strain nor maintain an

altitude. Finally the bare minimum payload was removed and used as an independent sensor

system to be operated by hand on the ground.

This was how testing was performed in the Piedmont neighborhood, Gainesville gas

station, Bull Run Warrior Retreat, and Haymarket gas station locations. While underwhelming in

the extreme, the new handheld system proved opportune allowing the team to perform tests in a

greater quantity and quality of locations. Replacing what would have been a nearly empty high

school parking lot was both a suburban location and two high traffic urban locations. Flying the

conspicuous, massive Zephyr at such locations would have been impossible under FAA

regulations, specifically those regulations which prohibit flight near other humans. The handheld

version, dubbed the Ground Sniffer by the teams head of marketing, was barely noticed let

alone complained about by any of the residents it was used near and broke no laws or regulations

whatsoever. In conclusion, though disappointing, the crash of the Zephyr allowed the team both

experience and unparalleled testing opportunities.

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Carbon Monoxide Levels Measured over a 2 Minute Interval in Suburban Piedmont

Carbon Monoxide Levels Measured over a 2 Minute Interval in a Haymarket Gas Station
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Carbon Monoxide Levels Measured over a 2 Minute Interval at the Rural Bull Run Warrior

Retreat

Carbon Monoxide Levels Measured over a 2 Minute Interval in a Gainesville Gas Station
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Average CO Concentration in Correlation with Location-Type

Location Type Average CO (ppm)

Suburban Piedmont Suburban 0.8276

Haymarket Gas Station Urban 5.1379

Rural Bull Run Rural 0.5517

Gainesville Gas Station Urban 5.4138

It is undeniable from the data that airborne carbon-monoxide levels in densely populated

areas are higher than those in more rural areas. This result supports our hypothesis, and we

believe that this trend is due to areas with higher population having more fossil fuel-based

transportation therefore putting more carbon-monoxide into the air as a byproduct. It is notable

that no average reading, nor individual reading, for any given location surpassed or even

approached the legal safety limit of 35 ppm, put out by the Occupational Safety and Health

Administration. Therefore, while the levels did vary significantly, all locations tested in that

regard can be given a clean bill of health.

While the average readings between urban and non-urban settings have the greatest

difference, it is also clear that suburban settings seem to have slightly higher levels of CO than

strictly rural settings. This, again, can be seen to be correlated with the density of fossil fuel

burning vehicles.

Yet another thing of note is that all ppm values listed for the CO readings have been

rounded to the nearest whole number. While the team is deeply disappointed in this imprecision,
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only so much can be expected from a ~$30 sensor. One possible extension of this experiment

could be the use of a more accurate sensor for better, more accurate, testing.
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Resources

There were no resources used during this time.