College - Author 1

College of Engineering

Department - Author 1

Aerospace Engineering Department

Degree Name - Author 1

BS in Aerospace Engineering

Date

3-2012

Primary Advisor

Eltahry Elghandour, College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Department

Abstract/Summary

Composite materials are engineered by combining two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties in such a way that the constituents are still distinguishable, and not fully blended. Due to today’s high rising prices of gasoline and aviation fuel costs, many manufacturers have turned to the use of lightweight composites in their designs due to the advantages of the composite material, which include outstanding strength, excellent durability, high heat resistance, and significant weight reduction that the composite material properties hold. The purpose of this project is to design and construct a composite structure for an electrically-powered hover board designed for human flight. The hover board composite structure consists of three sandwich composite I-beams as the base of the structure where both the flanges and web are composed of fiberglass and a type of foam as the core. The three composite I-beams is essential to our design because as beam theory states, the I-shaped section is a very efficient form for carrying both the bending and shear loads in the plane of the web, which are the two main types of loads that we will encounter. The goals of the system are as follows: 1) the structure of the hover board will be able to withstand all forces and moments created by propulsion system and person; 2) the propulsion system will produce enough thrust to accommodate vertical takeoff for a 170 lb person and achieve a minimum height of three inches; 3) creating a new segment in the aviation and recreational vehicle markets. The goals of this project are very important to achieve as the hover board will be the first of its kind that uses a propulsion system without implementing a skirt. This means that all lift will be created by the four ducted fans in our propulsion system. Once the hover board has been optimized and finalized, it will expand the market of commercially available VTOL systems. At first this technology can be utilized for merely recreation but as time progresses the technology can be expanded to industry. It will replace currently existing cargo movement systems such as forklifts.

Download

Share

COinS