This document discusses the design of a precision launcher project. It describes the aerodynamic forces of lift, drag, weight and thrust. The projectile is a spherical foam ball chosen for its consistent shape during launch. The launcher uses three energy transfers - from a falling weight to compress air in a piston, from the compressed air to launch the ball. Sources of energy loss are friction and escaping air. The goal is to maximize force and accuracy through an efficient pneumatic system meeting the requirements.
This document discusses the design of a precision launcher project. It describes the aerodynamic forces of lift, drag, weight and thrust. The projectile is a spherical foam ball chosen for its consistent shape during launch. The launcher uses three energy transfers - from a falling weight to compress air in a piston, from the compressed air to launch the ball. Sources of energy loss are friction and escaping air. The goal is to maximize force and accuracy through an efficient pneumatic system meeting the requirements.
This document discusses the design of a precision launcher project. It describes the aerodynamic forces of lift, drag, weight and thrust. The projectile is a spherical foam ball chosen for its consistent shape during launch. The launcher uses three energy transfers - from a falling weight to compress air in a piston, from the compressed air to launch the ball. Sources of energy loss are friction and escaping air. The goal is to maximize force and accuracy through an efficient pneumatic system meeting the requirements.
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Sager Elliott, Gavin Rothwell, Kyle Weiner Dr. Brian Koehler, TA Olivia Fillmer Introduction to Engineering Design and Problem Solving 17 October 2016 Precision Launcher Research Aerodynamics is the study of the flow of air around and within a moving object (Flandro, McMahon, Roach 1). There are four forces that compose an objects aerodynamic properties. The four forces are: weight, lift, drag, and thrust (Dunbar). Weight is the force of gravity pulling down on an object (Dunbar). Lift counteracts weight, and is the force needed to move an object up (Dunbar). The third force, drag, is the force that slows an object down and makes an objects movement difficult (Dunbar). Drag is caused by air and wind resistance in the atmosphere. The fourth force is thrust, which counteracts drag. Thrust is the force that pushes an object forward (Dunbar). Creating an aerodynamic object consists of creating an object that efficiently uses lift and thrust while reducing weight and drag. Another way to measure an objects aerodynamic effectiveness is based on the objects drag coefficient. The formula for a shapes drag coefficient is Cd = D / (.5* * V^2 * A), where Cd is drag coefficient, D is drag, rho is density, V is velocity, and A is reference area (Benson). Reducing an objects drag coefficient means the object is more aerodynamic. An airfoil (teardrop) shape is the most aerodynamic, followed by a spherical shape, a bullet shape, a prism shape, and a flat plate shape (Benson). The overall goal is to choose a shape that is most aerodynamic for the object that will be moving through the air. Our projectile is a spherical ball about .8 inches in diameter that weighs only a few ounces. It is made of sturdy foam. We chose a spherical shape because of the ease in firing a ball.
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Although it is the second most aerodynamic shape (Benson) it is much easier to fire than an airfoil (teardrop) shape. Spheres can be thrown, lobbed, shot or launched easily and very accurately unlike teardrop shaped objects, which would need a specialized firing mechanism to control the objects more complicated shape. Teardrop shapes are at their most aerodynamic when on their side, which would be a much harder position to launch in. Spheres have a consistent shape all the way around. We chose the weight because of the balls ability to fly in a consistent arc. The ball we selected will not curve because of its weight, unlike a lightweight ping-pong ball for example. The weight will also allow the ball to travel thirty feet because the drag created by the surface area of the ball will not be enough to stop the weight of the ball combined with the thrust our launcher exerts (Dunbar). Lastly, the size of the ball, .8 inches in diameter, was decided upon because a ball of that size is dense enough to fly in a consistent and long arc. It is hard to find a small ball with a sufficient amount of weight because the ball would have to be very dense. With this size, we found a ball with the density and weight we need. Zero energy state, or ground state, is when there is no energy within the system (Henderson). This means that there is no kinetic energy or potential energy acting upon the system. An outside force must act upon the system for energy to be introduced, potential or kinetic. In terms of our design, this means that we can have no moving parts before we set our five-pound weight into motion. We also can not have any potential energy present, such as a cocked bowstring. The introduced energy must be from the five-pound weight we set into motion at the beginning of firing the launcher. Our launcher is fired using a three-inch diameter PVC piston forced downwards using a falling five-pound weight. Our launcher complies with zero energy state because we have no moving parts, no pressurized air, and no pre-hanging weights before we drop our five-pound
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weight and allow it to free-fall. Thus, there are no kinetic or potential energy forces acting upon the launcher system, and it is in zero energy state. The only introduced force will be the potential energy from us holding the five-pound weight, as is specified in the directions and rules that the five-pound weight must be the only force to act upon the launcher from zero energy state. Our launcher has three total energy transfers. The first is from a five-pound weight being attached to a rope and being released from slightly above the piston. This energy transfer consists of the potential energy of gravity being transferred to kinetic energy while falling and thus pulling the string attached to the piston. Potential energy is any type of stored energy, and kinetic energy is the energy of movement (Deb). The string of the weight is connected to the piston and pulls it down. The piston compressing the air is the second energy transfer of the system. The kinetic energy of the falling piston is transferred to elastic potential energy of compressed air. Elastic potential energy is energy stored mechanically in a compressed gas or liquid, a coiled spring, or a stretched elastic band (Kinetic). The third transfer of energy is the compressed air firing the ball out of the barrel. This transfer takes the kinetic energy of the air and transfers the energy to the ball, causing it to shoot out of the barrel. Our launcher system does contain some energy loss in the transfers. The first is the loss of some energy to friction between the piston plunger and piston. This is due to the fact that the wooden plunger head and o-ring rub against the inside of the piston. We can minimize this by lubricating the inside of the piston. Another energy loss is through air escaping the system. We created airtight seals to the best of our ability but air is still lost throughout the system. The final energy loss is the friction of the ball against the barrel. There is one source of energy loss in this interaction, the friction of the ball sliding against the inside of the barrel.
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A limiting factor in our launcher is effectiveness of the weight falling and moving the piston. Specifically, the weight imparting enough force on the piston to quickly force air through the barrel. This transfer has the potential to be a potential energy loss if the full force of the weight does not transfer to moving the piston, or the rope the weight is attached to is not the correct length to allow the full force of the weight to act on the piston. This would also reduce the kinetic energy of the shot by a small amount because the air moving through the system would move slower, putting less force behind the ball. Another possible limiting factor is air loss throughout the piston system. There are lots of seams throughout the system where parts are fit together tightly, and some are sealed with PVC cement and some are not. Air can escape through these cracks, especially because a high volume of air is moving quickly throughout the system. This leads to the ball shooting shorter and with less force. The goal is to limit air loss, to make the ball shoot forcefully. We chose our basic design in order to meet and exceed the amount of energy transfers requirement while maintaining accuracy and consistency. We considered a trebuchet design at first, but we got stuck at only having one energy transfer instead of the required two. Thus, we switched our design to a pneumatic system, which had at minimum two transfers in the rope attached to the dropped weight, pressurized air, and the air firing the ball. The way our design got to three energy transfers was through a dropped weight and pneumatic system. Thus, we settled on a pneumatic system to use the energy of the weight falling to fire the piston, while at the time using pressurized air to fire the projectile. Not only that, we were able to get the maximum amount of force and accuracy using the pneumatic system to fire the ball.
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Works Cited Benson, Tom. "Shape Effects on Drag." NASA. NASA, 12 July 2014. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. Deb, Anrica. "Forms of Energy: Motion, Heat, Light, Sound." BURN An Energy Journal. BURN, 29 Nov. 2015. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. Dunbar, Brian. "What Is Aerodynamics?" NASA. NASA, 4 June 2011. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. Flandro, Gary A. McMahon, Howard M. Roach, Robert L.. (2012). Basic Aerodynamics Incompressible Flow. Cambridge University Press. Henderson, Tom. "Mechanical Energy." Mechanical Energy. The Physics Classroom, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. Houghton, E. L., Carpenter, P. W., and Collicott, Steven H.. Aerodynamics for Engineering Students (6). Saint Louis, GB: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 17 October 2016. "Kinetic and Potential Energy." Diffen.com. Diffen LLC, n.d. Web. 16 Oct 2016.