|
Hi everyone,
I just came back from the annual AIAA Design/Build/fly competition in Tuscon
AZ, where we (MIT) took first place, powered by Littlescreamers Parkjet motors. Design/Build/Fly is a student design competition
where teams from universities around the world spend the year designing a aircraft to meet a set of mission specs set out
by the AIAA. The missions vary from year to year but usually have some heavy lift element, and a ground mission focused on
rapid reconfiguration of the aircraft, and a constraint that the aircraft must fit (assembled or unassembled) in a 4'x2'x1.5'
box.
This year, the scoring favored light aircraft with small wing spans, that could be stored as one piece in
the 4x2x1.5 box. So we took extreme measures to make the aircraft as light as possible. After surveying the motor market,
we ended up selecting LS Parkjets for their unparalleled power density. After a lot of wind tunnel testing and several smoked
motors, we found we could push these little guys pretty hard, cranking almost 350 watts per motor at takeoff. It's well
beyond the spec wattage, but we were able to get 5 or so flights before the winding started to blacken and the power dropped
off (we went through 7 pairs throughout the year).
At the competition the motors drew a lot of attention, and
doubt, but once we got a flight in everyone was a Littlescreamer believer. It is a truly awesome product, and we probably
couldn't have taken the win without them.
-Adam
Airplane Specs:
Span: 23.75"
Empty Weight: 1.9 lbs
Weight w/Payload: 5.5lbs
Motors: (2) LS Parkjet
ESC: (2) CC Phoenix 25
Battery: 12 cell 1500mah Nimh (LiPoly not allowed  )
Prop: APC 7x3 Free Flight
|
