Series 1580 Used for AIAA Design-Build-Fly Competition

We sponsored a few student groups participating in the AIAA Design-Build-Fly competition. One of those group is Lehigh University’s Aerospace Club. Here is what Troy had to say about their experience. We wish them the best of luck!

Figure 1: RCbenchmark Series 1580 Thrust Stand with Motor and Propeller

Lehigh University’s Aerospace Club is an undergraduate, student-run organization that explores aircraft design.  Each year, they prioritize building aircraft for the AIAA Design-Build-Fly Competition in which they compete against schools from around the world, following a set of guiding rules that change each year.

The Aerospace Club has been using the RCbenchmark Series 1580 Test Stand in their design and motor test process, and have found the data it yields to be significantly more precise than previous data collection attempts.  The thrust stand’s easy-to-use interface and multiple points of data collection have proved extremely useful.

After comparing the data from a few potential motors for the Design-Build-Fly plane and testing them on the thrust stand, the club was able to find the best motor for their needs.  The club compared multiple motor and battery setups on the thrust stand. By utilizing the CSV file capabilities, they were able to pick the optimal power plant setup by comparing graphs of each test. 

Figure 2: RCbenchmark Series 1580 Thrust Stand Fastened to Desk

Throughout the rest of the academic year, Lehigh’s Aerospace Club will build many plane iterations as they incorporate and optimize different design elements.  The manufacturing process will be finalized in March for the competition, hosted by Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Arizona in April 2019.

Troy

Lehigh University Aerospace Club