AeroDesign Engineering Team
I was on the Advanced Class Fuselage team for UBC AeroDesign. During my time there I improved my CAD and prototyping skills. In terms of manufacturing I got experience with CFRP, 3d printing, thermoforming using a vacuum table I designed, laser cutting and more. See the pictures below for some CAD work and some physical prototyping.
Payload Container Design
When I joined I quickly realized an under-looked component of the previous design was the containers designed to hold the payload (water).
I redesigned the containers to follow the shape of the fuselage, allowing for a drastic reduction in weight of the overall design and greater payload storage.
CFRP Manufacturing
However, the next challenge was how to manufacture this unique shape. After some research I decided to use a CFRP layup.
This allowed for a lightweight - high strength material that also added stability to the fuselage structure, helping it withstand loads when landing.
For the CFRP layup I also developed and built a vacuum table box that would allow the carbon fibre material to be suctioned securely to the mold and held in place while drying.
