RUNNING HEAD: PROJECT ZEPHYR PROGRESS REPORT 9 1

Project Zephyr

Progress Report 9

Vallabi Vallaban

Kelly Crocker

Noah Wong

March 9, 2017

Objective:

The time period was spent beginning the construction of the foam blimp frame as well as writing

the code that will ultimately fly the blimp.

Previous Objective:

This time was spent determining the Mylar and valve configurations and testing the solar panels.
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Materials and Methods

During this time the team received the order of foam board that had been previously

placed. One 8 ft by 4 ft board was cut into four more manageable sections of 2ft by 4ft. The other

was left untouched so that it could be returned if not needed for construction. The board is .75 in

thick.

For reasons of simplicity, the dimensions of the blimp were changed in relation to both

width and height; both are now 1.65 m. The length will stay the same at 2 m. This decision was

made because it would make all the rib sections of the blimp uniform and greatly simplify the

process of constructing the framework. The uniformity of the sections is due to the fact that the

cross section of the blimp would then be a circle instead of an oval or ellipsoid shape. With the

different dimensions, the volume of the blimp increases from 2.58 m3 to 2.85 m3, an increase and

therefore not concerning regarding the payload weight.

The dimensions of each rib section can be broken down into six constituent parts. There

is one outer strut that is roughly 14 inches in length. This strut will be attached at an angle to two

pieces at either end of equal length (roughly 24 inches) according to the diagram shown in the

figure below. There will be one support piece (33 inches long) attached directly in the middle of

the outer strut for stability and bonded along with the outer angular pieces, to the center beam.
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Figure 1: The diagram of the rib section of the blimp shows the dimensions required for each

constituent part as well as the number of each part needed to construct all eight rib sections.

Over the course of the past week, the team has cut eight 12-inch by 1-inch sections,

thirty-two 24-inch by 1-inch sections, and eight 33-inch by 1-inch sections from the 4 ft by 2 ft

sections of foam board to make up the eight necessary rib sections. This is shown in the below

Figure 2.
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Figure 2: The sections labeled A1-A8 are 14-inch sections meant to be the outer ridges while the

sections labeled C1-C32 are the 24-inch sections that will constitute the angular sections of the

ridge construction.

In order for the center supports to connect with the outer ridges, they will need to be

epoxyed together. In an effort to increase the surface area that the epocy comes in contact with, a

shallow, rectangular hole was dug out in the center of each outer ridge section in the dimensions

of the end of each support strut, namely .75 in by 1 in. Epoxy will be applied to both surfaces

and joined in this manner in an effort to increase force necessary to separate the pieces by

increasing the surface area bonded between them.

Figure 3: The hole cut into the underside of the outer ridge piece will allow for an increased

bonding area and, therefore, increase the integrity of the structure as well.

Also during this time, a code meant to fly the blimp was started. At present, it can turn

one motor off and on while keeping another on constantly. This function is mainly meant to turn

the blimp in a particular direction depending on the motor being manipulated. It could also,

however, have some applications in altitude adjuctment as well.

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The third major undertaking of these past two weeks has been the center beam for the

structural system of the blimp. The beam will be composed of two 19-inch sections, two 7-inch

sections, two 12-inch sections, and ten 24-inch sections laid out as depicted in Figure 4. Each

section was cut out and arranged as shown in Figure 5, but the next step will be to epoxy them

together into the 2 m long beam needed to support the blimp structure. Then there can be holes,

similar to the ones cut into the outer ridges, placed in the center of each beam as a place for the

center supports to connect into securely.

Figure 4: The center beam will be made up of 16 different sections of foam board joined together

by epoxy into one long beam that is 2 m long.

Figure 5: The pieces of the center beam, laid out here, will need to be epoxied together during

the next two weeks.

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Data and Results

In order to let the next few steps of the construction process be viable, the team needed to

test the epoxy they purchased for the foam. Through this process, they discovered that the epoxy

needs to be applied to both surfaces and let sit for 20-30 minutes before it can be joined to itself

or another surface. This, as well as the temperature constraint of above 68 degrees, greatly limits

the number of days the team will have to complete the epoxy process, especially when coupled

with the fact that it is a process best done out of doors. Another potential problem is the

necessary application of pressure onto the two foam pieces while they bond. Because the support

beam is being joined perpendicularly to the outer ridge, the team will need to consider how they

will apply constant pressure throughout the process.

In testing the epoxy, the team bonded two scrap pieces of foam about 5 inches in length

flush to each other. After applying the epoxy in a thin coat to each piece of foam and observing

the necessary 20 minutes for the epoxy to be ready to bond, the team placed the two foam pieces

flush against each other and placed a text book on top of them to exert pressure. They were left

this way for the rest of the class (about 30 minutes). When examined at the end of class, the

result was found to be very satisfactory. Even without a long period of time to cure, the strength

of the expxy was great and one person alone could not separate the two pieces.
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Works Cited

There were no resources used during this time period.