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APOLO 3.5 - The Documentation

USM SAE Collegiate Club

Pre-establishment Project:
APOLO 3.5

Project team member:
Chew Vee Kuan, Too Jun Lii, Chong Siu Hou, Low Hock Soon, Fow Jun Yan, Ho Gim Beng, Tan Shi Sheng

Project Period:
5 days

Project End Date:
3 Jan 2009

Venue:
Engine Lab, School of Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia

 

Introduction

Project APOLO 3.5 is simply a task to test the capability of SAE members to work hands-on on project.

Project APOLO has evolved from Single Stage Rocket (SSR) to Multi Stage Rocket (MSR) which has given its name APOLO 3.5.

A team of 6 members had worked hard and had fun in these 5 days in the Engine Lab. They managed to build a MSR with the cost of RM18 for the adhesive material, PVC pipes and the like.

This project might become a launch demonstration in the future.

How MSR works?

We made a launcher using PVC pipe with the diameter as large as the diameter of the bottle’s mouth. For instance, we used a 20mm diameter PVC pipe to match the 100-Plus 1.5 liter bottle which will be used as our rocket. (If it is too tight, file (“kikir”) the bottle’s mouth or use sand paper to abrade the PVC pipe).

The trick of the launcher is merely the locking mechanism. We used cable ties and taped them to the pipe in such a way they become the lock.

As for the base, normally people used a plank as the base. Fortunately, we manage to find chairs with rollers in the junk yard. We reused the polymeric spring and the roller stand.

For the rocket part, we categorized our MSR into 3 parts. The bottom part is the Booster. In the middle is the Staging Mechanism. The top part will be our Rocket. At the end of the project, we combined the Booster and the Staging Mechanism to reduce the assembly of 3 parts into 2 parts assembly.

The critical part of MSR is the Staging Mechanism. How you design it to trigger the secondary Rocket to launch in mid-air. Our primary design is shown as below.

We tied the Booster to the roller stand with raffia string. The purpose is to pull down the Booster and also trigger the launch of the secondary Rocket in mid-air. This Staging Mechanism is using inertia to do the staging.

We also added the parachutes to our Rocket. The trick to making a good parachute is to make a hole in the center of the parachute. The theory is when the parachute deploys, the air flows through the center and that flow will provide stability in addition to air resistance when the air flows against the parachute.

There is another parachuting prototype that we did not try it out. However, from tests made with a very strong fan, the collapsible parachute did provide a lot of air-resistance once the Rocket starts to drop. We taped the cut segments of the body of a 5-L bottle to the cable ties that is taped to the Rocket. Then slices of a garbage bag are taped around the opened flaps. 

Materials used in APOLO 3.5:

-100 Plus Bottles X 2

-Kikapoo Bottles X 2

-PTFE X 1

-PVC cement glue X 1

-Epoxy glue X 1

-PVC pipes (20mm outer diameter)

-Duct tape X 1

-PVC end cap X 3 (20mm inner diameter)

-roller stand’s polymeric spring (or halved bottle)

-air compressor (or bicycle pump)

-plastic bags

-cable ties

-bicycle tyre valve X 2

******** END OF DOCUMENTATION ********

Brought to you by,

DAVID CHEW VEE KUAN
Chairman (2008/09)
USM SAE Collegiate Chapter

Contact #: 0192411088

AND

TOO JUN LII
Secretary (2008/09)
USM SAE Collegiate Chapter

Engineering Campus
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Seri Ampangan, 14300 Nibong Tebal
Seberang Perai Selatan, Pulau Pinang
Malaysia.

Mobile : +60-12-5010539

Primary E-mail : tjl100912@student.usm.my 

Secondary E-mail : toojunlii@gmail.com