Aero-Panel Mounting

Task Description

We need some way to easily swap out the aero panels attached to the skeleton, this is pretty open-ended but it needs to be light and be able to connect to both the aero panels (which will differ in shape each time) and attach to the skeleton. Could be attached mainly to aero panels or mainly to the skeleton, up to you.

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Task Progression/Updates

Author: @Alison Thompson Date: 2023/09/30

INITIAL IDEAS

Wipeboard conversation in the bay, current ideas are quite loose. Potentially something similar to the way a tent is clipped onto poles, or get inspiration from @Andy Zhang 's battery shroud clips.

@Aric Quan will need to communicate with @Evan Janakievski about tube diameter and @Georgia Vachon Westerlund about plans for aero-panels.

Update 2023-10-10

Open

Figure 1. Mounting Pin

Open

Figure 2. Mounting bracket

Figure 3. Possible mounting method

This is an initial idea for how the panels could be mounted to the pin.

• The hole in Figure 1. could by slid onto the carbon fiber tube and secured with bolts as shown in Figure 2 with a mounting bracket

• Clip can be attached to the mounting bracket, and the pin slot (right side object in Figure 3.) could be attached to the aero-panel with a similar clipping mechanism.

This still needs to be discussed more with @Georgia Vachon Westerlund . Updates within the next few days to follow. May be a day overdue.

Update 2023-10-11

Well, scratch the previous idea with the backpack clip!

Reasons why to scrap previous idea:

• Very small size of the clips that need to sustain the strain during flight

• The possibility of clips braking from fatigue

• Generally how weak they are

I thought it was best to go more towards the tent pole idea mentioned by @Alison Thompson in the beginning.

Figure 4. is the prototype idea for the mounting method. I thought that this method would be preferable compared to the backpack clip because

• Less chance of this breaking over time

• Better durability

• Just generally stronger compared to the previous idea.

Some details

• Mounting method uses M3 holes on all parts

• Pin on right side of Figure 5. is inserted through both the pin and slot (see Figure 4.)

Update 2023-10-11 (Evening)

Some revisions by @Alison Thompson and @Conall Kingshott

• Instead of inserting a pin through mounting assembly, we can put a M3 bolt through the mounting bracket on the airframe

• Usage of clamps in the past has not been great. If possible:

  • Attach mounting assembly to base of frame through cheese holes AND

  • Attach mounting assembly to base of cabin skeleton

  • Free to use bolts/screws by other parts on the main frame (some conditions apply though)

• Must coordinate with @Evan Janakievski with placement of mounting assembly on base of drone so it does not intersect with cabin frame assembly

Update 2023-10-13 (Evening)

Mounting method will be handed off to @Sohee Yoon due to school priorities. That being said, ideas for the revised mounting method will be explained in detail below. Overall, the connecting mechanism from the aero-panels to drone work. However, the mechanism attach the mounting method to the drone is the issue.

Area circled with BLUE:

• Original idea was to clamp this onto cabin frame tube, but as discussed during the meeting, this is not very strong, and clamps tend to loose their tightness from previous experience in comp

• Instead, we were going to put a clamping mechanism around the bottom plate of the drone (this must be coordinated with @Evan Janakievski to avoid conflict with the mounting of the cabin skeleton), and at the bottom of the cabin skeleton on each carbon figure tube (see figure 7. where it’s circled red)

• This way, we can avoid clamping on the tube, and the mounting mechanism does not move during flight

• Area circled with RED:

• The plan was to removed the pin crossed out in red in Figure 6., and instead, we were planning on putting a M3 bolt that can be threaded through the aero-frame mount (in green) through to the slot

  • The red arrow points in the direction where the M3 bolt would be inserted (see figure 6.)

TO DO:

• We just have to design a way to secure the mounting mechanism to the top of the drone’s bottom plate, and the bottom of the cabin’s skeleton frame so that we avoid using the clamping method that was initially designed

• The idea in this update does not need to be followed if you have a better way to secure the mounting mechanism

Update 2023-10-18

Written by @Sohee Yoon

Aric's design is amazing if we connected the mounts to the tube but when I was brainstorming for the new placements I found it a bit hard to incorporate the the M3 threaded tube/neck.

In the new design all the holes should be threaded or maybe a nut to hold it together. These new designs are a lot simpler as well.

Questions/Concerns for the Bottom Mount:

• Should we add an extra mounting hole to secure it more?

Questions/Concerns for the Top Mount:

• Did we want to place the top mounts outside of the cabin?

• I'm not sure how we could design a strong mount for the cheese hole and what I have now def isn't the best idea.

Conclusions after @Alison Thompson review:

• Bottom is good to go

• Top:

  • See if we can get the mounts somewhere where the 30x30 grid exists on the bottom of the drone.

  • If we can't make that work we can add holes for the mounts to make more sense. However, there is a concern since we don't have doors and windows fleshed out yet.

Update 2023-10-18 (Evening)

Dimensions?

• How thick/deep should the mount be to be threaded for M3?

Update 2023-10-25

CAD Draft is finished (Figure 11). Some notes:

• Heat Set Inserts will be used for the M3 holes; making it easier to mount to the drone and cabin.

• Dimensions are not yet finalized as the hole placement will change depending on the location of the cabin skeleton and the thickness of the mount depends on the heat set inserts length.

• Should we have the Top Mounts outside or inside of the cabin? (Figure 12)

Update 2023-11-01

Dimensions for the mount are finished (see below for how the holes are dimensioned). The thickness is based on the heat set inserts (assuming these https://www.mcmaster.com/94180A331/ ).

• This design will be for both the top and bottom mounts, however, adjustments can be made for the size of the mount/holes because the hole dimensions only account for the top mounts.