We are preparing for the fall semester. Contact Steve Nogar or Scott Tripp about being added to the email list, to hear about meeting rescheduling and other HPH news.
In the fall we will reorganize into small teams and start working full force on designing a new helicopter.
Organization
This semester we have divided up into multiple teams to do our design and prototyping. The teams are:
Aerodynamics
Led by Steve Nogar (snogar at umich.edu)
Times: Tuesday and Thursday at 7 in the wilson center(except 9/23)
We will be designing and constructing the rotors for the helicopter. This will involve figuring out how to change the pitch of these rotors along with modeling 1/2 scale and 1/4 scale models to measure their performance and build our model.
Structures
Led by David Bilby (bilbydav at umich.edu)
Times: Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 in the wilson center
The structures team will be constructing the trusses that will support the rotors and the cockpit. They will also be researching materials and construction methods to use on the full scale design.
Cockpit/Drivetrain
Led by Scott Tripp (ktripp at umich.edu)
Times: Wednesdays at 7:30 in the fxb caen lab
Design of the cockpit along with the drivetrain to power the rotors of the helicopter. This includes designing a system to mount the rotors along with the controls to power the helicopter.
Business/Systems
Led by Lisa Meintel (lmeintel at umich.edu)
Times: Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 in pierpont commons in the piano room
The business team will be rebranding the team and will be in charge of all marketing and business related tasks. They will be preparing materials to go to sponsors with. Also this team has a systems aspect to it that will make sure all the teams are working together.
New design
Our new design will be a four rotor helicopter.
The pilot will sit in the center of the vehicle while four counter rotating rotors will lift the craft.
This design will succeed due to its large rotor area and its light weight design.
the contest
The American Helicopter Society offers a $20,000 prize for a successful controlled flight of a human-powered helicopter. The gist of the requirements is:
- Flight must be maintained for one minute.
- The lowest part of the helicopter must momentarily exceed 3 meters altitude.
- The pilot must not rotate throughout the flight.
The significance of the first two items is clear, but the last one introduces the challenging aspect of torque compensation. Eliminating the net torque of the vehicle, without reducing thrust, has been a major design point of every HPH.
In the roughly 20 years since the prize was first offered, no team has come close to meeting the height or time duration requirements.
Reports
These are reports detailing what happened in each semester with the team.