Up, Up, and Away: The Effect of Substrate Type, Substrate Temperature, and Load on Hover Engines and Hovering Efficiency

Overview

Objectives/Goals The objective of this experiment was to determine the order of energy efficient conditions for hover engines by varying the type of substrate (surface below them), substrate temperature, and payload on the Whitebox (the box with the hover engines). Methods/Materials The Whitebox was tested with all combinations of substrate type (aluminum and copper), temperature (room and cold, the metals being frozen in a freezer), and payload (none, 500 g, and 1000 g). The Lithium Polymer battery was balance charged to 3.75 V, and the battery alarm was set to ring when the battery reached 3.4 V. These two materials were plugged into the Whitebox. A stopwatch recorded the duration of time between the start of the trial and the moment the alarm rang. Results The Whitebox was tested under all different conditions. The most efficient condition was room temperature copper with no weight, and the least efficient condition was cold aluminum with 1000 grams weight. Aluminum, cooler temperatures, and increasing load reduced hover engine efficiency. Copper, room temperature, and decreasing load increased hover engine efficiency. Conclusions/Discussion All conditions affected hover engine efficiency. Copper is more conductive than aluminum, room temperature metals are still less electrically conductive than cooler ones but work more efficiently with the hover engines than cooler metals, and increasing weight strains an object. Different conditions can increase the efficiency of magnetic levitation with eddy currents.

Competition history

• CSEF 2018 Electronics & Electromagnetics · Entry J1001

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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