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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 final product . This plastic is the typical plastic grocery bag.
Figure 2: Comparison of plastics

An issue we are facing is making the kite maintain its angle. This prototype is being held together with tape, which is not the sturdiest form of adhesion. Before each test the angle has to be adjusted. To solve this we need to find a way to put the kite together that is sturdier than tape, but light enough that it does not negatively affect the flight of  the kite.

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