1. Autonomous Hovercraft Design
Team 17
December 2011
Engr100
Samuel Gbafa
Akeem Shaw
Chad Brown
Team Leader
Derek Dalbey
Spencer Gibb
Intro to Engineering Design
2. Design Overview
• Previously we had experimented with
different deck materials, including wood
and a Styrofoam deck that had
dimensions that were later improved to
make our current deck.
• Our design is very similar to our original
concept in that nearly everything that
we modified was to achieve balance of
the hovercraft.
3. Design Overview
• 2 ft. x 3 ft. Styrofoam deck and
plenum chamber
• 3 axial lift fans connected in parallel
• Hovercraft propelled through a
weight-shift system
• Powered through a NiMH battery
pack
Current Design Properties:
4. Overall Status
• Team is on track to complete the
project successfully and on time
• Design finalized and just about
implemented, we just need to finish the
programming and weight shift system
• Final Comprehensive Team Budget:
$278.34
6. Introduction
• Throughout the semester we have managed to
stay relatively on schedule, and got through all of
the checkpoints without any major problems; but we
do have to work on getting the hovercraft to reverse
properly
• Final design
concept excluding
the relocation of
the NXT and Fuel
Cell for balancing:
7. Status: Lift Subsystem
• Lifted by three 12V axial fans connected
in parallel that run down the center of
the hovercraft
• Connected through a switch to the
auxiliary power supply
• System requires 2.7 A at
12V
• 200 CFM required at 0.16
inch H2O
• Target Gap Height of .15
inches
8. Status: Battery System
• 12V NiMH battery pack that comprises
of 10 cells at 1.2V each
• The pack has an ideal capacity of 3800
mAh
• Each axial fan draws .9 A, so the lift
system requires a total of 2.7 A at 12V
9. Status: Propulsion Technique
• Our propulsion technique consists of a 100
gram weight at the end of a 13 inch arm that
rests nearly vertical at 85 degrees.
• Upon the light sensor reading the turn-around
zone, the NXT will tell the fuel cell to turn on a
motor that will bring the arm up the last 5
degrees and let gravity do the rest and the
weight will fall, changing the primary direction
of air leakage, causing our hovercraft to
reverse.
10. Key Issues
• Uncertainties
– Ability to get the hovercraft to reverse as it is designed to.
– Balance
– Successful Robolab program that will work with our design
(have not tested it with our current design)
• Action Plan
– Adjust placement of components to get prepared for the final
checkpoint
– Discuss the Robolab program with other groups to figure out
a solution that will work for us
11. Future Plans
• Hovercraft almost complete: Everything working and
in place except for our propulsion system
• Currently working to implement the propulsion
technique and create a successful Robolab program
that will allow our hovercraft to reverse without any
problems
• If we had to do the project differently, we would have
ordered the proper fans in the first place…
