Weekly Update: Week 3

Today we started to build protoypes. We decided to use the lightest grocery bag we have for all protoypes until we decide on a final shape. We will then test that shape with several different plastics to find the one that works best.

Our first protoype was very simple. It was a triangular shape with a long bar down the center, that goes past the triangle. The frame here was made of chopsticks. We then covered the triangle region with the plastic. The plastic was wrapped around the frame on the deges and taped down. This intial design was too front heavy. To combat this we added another chopstick to the back end of the middle stick. This prototype did not fly.

Figure 1: Protoype 1

In the next prototype we decided to extend the triangular area. To do this we added and extra chopstick to each side and cut a bigger sail. Everything was attached the same way as in prototype one. Once again, the kite was front heavy. At this point we had run out of chopsticks. As a stand in, we added a pencil, with the eraser removed to the back of the kite. The pencil was much heavier than the chopsticks. This caused the kite to stall. We fixed this by adding 2 small metal clips to the nose of the kite. Initially we had the center of the frame taped to the sail of the kite. We discovered that removing this tape helped the kite to glide better. This prototype flew much better than the first, though there is still much room for improvement.

Figure 2: Prototype 2

Goals for next week include improving the prototype. To do this we are going to try a lighter matieral for the frame as well as a substituting something lighter for the pencil. We also need to attach a string and make sure the kite will fly that way.

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Weekly Update: Week 2

This week's lab session was dedicated to research. We did not have our materials, thus we could not start building prototypes just yet. Instead we looked into background information. We found many sites that gave us key information on how and why a kite flies. We also looked into technical kite terminology. This information helped us to understand why certain kite shapes acts the way they do. Through research, we found that the most successful indoor kites are based off of the Delta wing shape. This style of kite features a triangular shape. This shape allows the kite adjust to changes in wind. Figure 1 shows a an example of a Delta Kite. Figure 1: Example of Delta kite http://intothewind.com/delta-kites This shape maybe useful in our kite design. Our design is inspired by a flying bird. The Delta shape resembles a bird in some ways. A few modifications may be needed, but using this shape is definitely something to think about. In addition to research we also pla

Weekly Update: Week 6

This week was focused on further improving our prototype. We kept the same shape of the frame, however we spilt the skewers in half vertically, to make the kite lighter. This allowed the kite to glide further. Figure one shows the current prototype Figure 1: split skewer dihedral frame Another thing we did this week was try different plastics for the sail. We thought if we tried a stronger plastic, the kite would be stronger and more resistant to damage. The plastic we tried was thicker and stiffer than the plastic we had been using to test our prototypes. Figure two shows a comparison of the two plastics. The thinner plastic (brown) is shown on the left and the thicker plastic (white) is shown on the right. This added unnecessary weight and caused the kite to not glide as far. As a team we decided that good flight was better than strength, in this case. We took the thicker plastic off and went pack to the original thinner plastic. This is the plastic we will we use for the fina

Weekly Update: Week 4

This week was all about improving our prototype. The prototype that was made last week worked well enough but is was quite heavy. We decided to replace the chopsticks with bamboo skewers. The skewers are much lighter and happen to be a little bit longer. The basic frame of the kite stayed the same. However, the frame with the skewers did not require a second skewer to be put own the back of the center. To hold the frame together we decided to use hot glue for a stronger hold. To make the sail, we used the same type of plastic bag we used to make the sail for the previous prototype. We will start to test different plastics once we nail down a frame material and shape. This prototype worked much better than the original. It glided much better. This could be because it was much lighter. At one point we tried bending the frame. This did not work the way we had hoped. We undid it and restored the original shape. Another thing we worked on was attaching a string to the kite. At first we

grp070-11:Indoor Kite

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