Momentum - November 2019 - 8

FEATURE

STUDENT
GENERATION

EXPERIENCE
AND INNOVATION

WALK HAND
IN HAND

Team from Pontifical Catholic University
carries success in native Brazil to U.S. in
SAE Aero Design competition.

PARTICIPATING IN COMPETITIONS such as SAE AeroDesign East is
inspiring for my Pontifical Catholic University team, AeroRio UAV Design.
Designing and building new high-performance vehicles to achieve
extraordinary results is our main driving force, and no prize ranks higher
than acquiring new aeronautical insights and gaining experience.
From our lab at Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-Rio) in the
'Marvelous City' of Rio de Janeiro, AeroRio designs and develops
aircraft and multi-rotors for competitions such as SAE Brasil
AeroDesign and IMAV (International Micro Air Vehicles Competition
and Conference). In past years, AeroRio UAV Design has developed a
fantastic track-record in those competitions, even though aeronautical
engineering is not a graduate course at our university.
This apparent disadvantage has not intimidated us; on the contrary,
we have relied on our experience and thirst for knowledge to fill in the
gaps. Ultimately, each challenge encourages us to move out of our
comfort area and takes us on a journey of discovery and innovation in
search for new solutions to our problems.
Our team participates in the annual competitions organized by SAE
Brasil AeroDesign. Only the local winners are entitled to a vacancy in the
international competition known as SAE Aero Design East in the U.S. In
October 2018, AeroRio earned first place in the Advanced Class at SAE
Brasil AeroDesign and was entitled to compete in SAE Aero Design East
2019, which offered a somewhat complicated and different challenge.
The competition held in Fort Worth, Texas, earlier this year brought
forward a scenario involving the colonization of Mars. Some of the

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main aspects to be considered by any team hoping to
climb competition's awards podium were the plane's
powertrain system, its geometry (requiring minor drag
because of limited engine power), and its structural
weight. These three main aspects that seemed unrelated
at first sight, in fact, are part of the so-called DIP
(Integrated Product Design) and integrate different
areas that are deeply connected. In order to develop a
reliable, secure, and competitive design, the DIP needs to
consider all these elements.
In consequence, during the preliminary design process,
we opted for a powertrain system with almost 735 W of
power and 9.7 lb·f. We deemed these values sufficient
to overcome the design drag while providing a high
payload, as we wanted to ensure a certain safety margin
regarding scores in case our aircraft was unable to
satisfy other mission requirements. Based on previous
experience and the design history of the team's aircraft,
at first we did not believe that drag would be such a
relevant variable in our project. However, later on, we
concluded that the design required significant changes to
reconsider drag as a whole.
Also, there was still another challenge to be faced:
one of the mission elements included a glider. In simple
terms, this glider had to be deployed from the main

MOMENTUM

10/28/19 10:39 AM
Momentum - November 2019

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