Technical Paper
The Application of Additive Manufacturing to the 2018 SAE Aero Design Challenge
2019-03-19
2019-01-1328
This project focuses on the application of polymer additive manufacturing to the 2018 SAE Aero Design Regular Class competition for North Carolina A&T State’s 2017/2018 senior project team. The Regular Class SAE Aero Design challenge requires participating teams to create a high lift, high efficiency remote controlled aircraft that is designed to carry as many passengers and additional cargo mass as possible while still being able to meet land and air performance requirements defined by the competition rules. Constraints set by the competition rules include material constraints, a max gross weight of 55 lb, a limited power supply of 1000 W, a 12-ft wingspan limitation, enclosed cargo and passenger bays, the ability to unload and load all cargo and return the plane to a flight ready configuration within 1 minute, and a takeoff distance of 200 ft.