Throughout history, mankind has sought after alternative solutions in the pursuit of efficiency. In 1882, Thomas Edison’s direct current generators served as the dominate electricity provider in Manhattan. The method was inefficient however, as later proved by Edison’s young Serbian apprentice Nikola Tesla, who developed a new more efficient method of providing electricity using an alternating current. As the American automobile industry began to thrive in 1913, Ford Motor Company developed a new assembly system for the influential Ford Model T. Using conveyor belts, the assembly line allowed for a car could be completely assembled from each individual component in just 93 minutes, transforming the production methods of future car companies. During the Space Race between the United States and Russia, rockets sent into space were incredibly expensive and only provided a single use, with fueling tanks rapidly depleted on launch and discarded mid-flight to remove unnecessary weight. In 1981, NASA developed the Space Shuttle as a reusable component of their spacecraft system, reducing the cost of subsequent missions. Today, manufacturing companies are increasingly turning to alternative sources for energy. The automobile company Tesla Motors, named after the very scientist mentioned earlier, manufacture cars entirely dependent on electricity. This is all part of their company’s vision for the future of the electric grid, where consumers not only receive power from the grid, but also produce electricity to be circulated through the grid with the use of domestic solar panels and other their other products. As time, has proven, progress does not come through simply accepting established methods and systems, but instead progress stems from those who dare to study different methods and dare to use different means to solve problems.
Research: Bend It like Magnus: Simulating Soccer Physics
Funding Agency: The College of Wooster
Principal Investigator: Mohammad Ahmad
Institution: Physics Department, The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio 44691, USA
This source is a written College report on an experiment drone using the Magnus effect. What Professor Ahmad did was he investigated the forces acting on a soccer ball by treating the soccer ball as a sphere moving through a viscous fluid and then applying fluid dynamics. The entire objective of this experiment was to derive the relationships between many variables that are in play when a sphere is being moved through a fluid. This is helpful to us in two primary ways. Firstly, he goes through the process of applying the Magnus effect very simply and although in our case we are using we are using cylinders and he was using spheres, that’s a very simple equation change. Secondly, he gives us insight on what the outcomes of some variables we intend to manipulate for maximum lift, such as size, rotational velocity, and mass and how they relate to each other.
Research: University of Illinois (UIUC), Tracking Drone Orientation with Multiple GPS receivers
Funding Agency: IBM
Principal Investigator: Mahanth Gowda
Institution: University of Illinois Intelligent Robotics Laboratory
The source is a written study on an experimental flying drone that uses GPS instead of their inertial sensors. But it is known that inertial sensors only work in certain thresholds (IMU’s) and can fail. The challenge that this research is trying to tackle is to make a more reliable drone stabilization system. This relates to our project because we are going to need to rethink the stabilization system due to the different propeller design, and this is a good source to get some ideas out of.
Research: Experimental Study of Magnus Effect Over an Aircraft Wing
Funding Agency: SRM University
Principal Investigator: Kavithasan Patkunam
Institution: SRM University
This paper is an experimental study of utilizing the magnus effect in an aircraft wing. Uses of the magnus effect weren’t successful for the most part due to the added drag from the cylinders. To counter this, the article combines the cylinder with an airfoil and get the benefits of the magnus effect and without creating too much drag. Their solution is essentially adding a treadmill over an aircraft wing. The proposition is interesting and their own research will be helpful in determining the overall design of our own drone.
By exploring the magnus effect’s viability in the world of aviation, we believe the NCT application has advanced scientific knowledge in many ways. By utilizing large cylinders to generate lift, the drone should not experience stalls in flight. We hope to encourage further advances in the application of the magnus effect as a larger plane, with the potential for increased maneuverability and stability in flight, while leaving a low carbon footprint compared to a commercial airplane. The slower, more maneuverable flight and heavy-load capability of drones could allow for new applications in the world, such as for firefighting or spreading fertilizer or seeds on farms.