Introduction: This instructable will show you how to create a solar powered plane. This project was done at Newman Smith HS in Carrollton, Texas and was sponsored by the Texas A&M Aerospace Engineering Department. We received most of the needed parts from Texas A&M and built the plane for the High School Solar Plane Competition on May 25, 2013. The project is not for the beginner as it gets a bit complicated. Skills that you will need include soldering skills, plane building skills, monokoting skills, and general R/C plane knowledge. Our team ended up with the Most Creative award and 2nd place in Endurance.
Special Thanks to Texas A&M, NSHS Teachers & the DIY Drones Community (http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/solar-powered-plane).
Below are some pictures of the completed project. The next step will be the list of materials needed.
Also included below is the link for build basics and aircraft aerodynamics- there are two PowerPoints included by Texas A&M. If you are going to do the project, printing out these two PowerPoints will help you immensely. However, please take note that all the cells must be in series, not in parallel as one of the PowerPoint presentations describes.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B_bYmGJ0v1Ncb283TF8tWXF6ZWc&usp=sharing
Want to see more photos? PM me and I'll give you a link.
Materials Needed: Glider (we used the Gentle Lady)
Monokote (We ended up using about 3 rolls- two for the 8 foot wing [bottom] & body of the plane and another clear roll for the panels)
3x6 Solar Panels
Tabbing Wire
Bus Wire
Normal Wire
Micro Servos
Push Rods
Nylon Control Horns
Propeller
Li-Po Battery
ESC (Electronic Speed Controller)
Charger
Connectors (for Wires)
Receiver
Propeller
Electric Motor
CA Glue
Heat Shrink Tubing
Sewing String
Pairing Connector (depends on your transmitter/receiver)
Nuts (for balancing wing)
Balsa Wood Sheets (optional- depends on how big your wing is)
Tools:
Soldering Iron
Flux
Solder
Hobby Knife and extra blades
Heat Gun
Sealing Iron
Large Table
Sand Paper
Drill
Wire Cutter
Digital Multi-Meter
First Aid Kit
View the original article here
If you live in a wood cottage in the middle of a forest, or maybe it's enough you like country style, you would like this trivet too. It's made cutting some disks from a little wood branch, and linking them together with short cord segments. You can arrange the disks in variuos shapes, in this instructable I show you some choices, but there are infinite, also you can start from a bigger branch, and make a kitchen carpet instead of a trivet ;-)
As material it's better choose a seasoned wood, so it will not cracks with time, and it will not expel humidity exposed to the heat of the pots. You can also let it seasoning after the end of the making process. I've started from a branch with a regular circular section, but you can obtain good results, and maybe better ones, with a more rough shape (it depends on how much deep you live in the forest...) You have also the opportunity to leave the bark or to remove it, I've left it in some of my trivet, as you can see in the first picture, but I removed it with sand paper in this bigger disks.
When you're pouring your morning bowl of cereal, you might not want the dust that collects at the bottom of the box to mix in with your milk. If you only want full pieces in your bowl, just use a colander.This tip is pretty obvious in hindsight, but it's something you might not think of when you're groggy early in the morning. Just empty out your cereal box into the colander, and let the dust fall into the sink. Personally, I enjoy "drinking" the cereal dust once a box is empty (I really hope I'm not the only one), so I might filter it into a bowl to enjoy separately, and save the full pieces for a proper bowl of milk.LPT: use a colander to prepare the last bowl of cereal from a box/bag. | Reddit