UAV Electric Explosive Initiation and Drop Mechanism

Team: Brittany Piquet, Parker Humes, Weston Bowcutt, and Braden Green

Sponsor: Delta-V Energetics

Project

Avalanches endanger the lives and safety of people living in cold, mountainous environments. Current methods of neutralizing this risk are costly and often risky. They include launching explosive mortar rounds, dropping charges from helicopters, and ascending the area at risk to position a charge.

Delta-V Energetics proposes using a drone to carry, drop and ignite an explosive payload, making the process safer and simpler. Our team is tasked with providing a safe and robust system for the electronic ignition and mechanical release of an explosive device for use in avalanche abatement.

3D model of prototype seperated into two pieces

Performance Review

Requirement Goal Threshold Performance Test Result
Dry Weight 1.5 kg 2.5 kg 2.47 kg
Time to Arm (Charge to 270 VDC) 3s 5s 2.5 s
Minimum Armed Voltage 270 voe 220 voe 265 voe
Maximum Disarmed Voltage 5 voe 24 voe 3.3 voe
Min Payload Delay Time 3s 1.5 s Adjustable (1-10 s)
Warning Light Visibility N/A 300 m 310 m
full sunlight
labworks scale
bench voltmeter
  • Electrical tests were carried out using bench voltmeter
  • Weight measured by MAE LabWorks scale
  • Light visibility verified by testing in full sunlight at 310 m

Mechanical Design Overview

Main Chassis - Support Payload and Electronics
Latch Mount - Locate Pivot Latch
Pivot Latch - Hold Payload Rack Until Rotated by Servo
Payload Rack - Expendable- Attach Payload to UAV During Flight
  1. Main Chassis - Support Payload and Electronics
  2. Latch Mount - Locate Pivot Latch
  3. Pivot Latch - Hold Payload Rack Until Rotated by Servo
  4. Payload Rack - Expendable- Attach Payload to UAV During Flight

Electrical Design Overview

Expendable Circuit
On-Board PCB
  1. Expendable Circuit
    1. PX-1 Fireset
    2. Ignition Capacitor
    3. Timing Microcontroller
  2. On-Board PCB
    1. Power Distribution
    2. High Voltage Arming
    3. Safety Systems
    4. Pilot Telemetry

Conclusion

Through our testing we found our design met all design requirements. While this design is more expensive to use than the previous mechanical design, we believe that it will prove to be reliable and safe.

Our biggest lessons learned from this project are the importance of testing early and having multiple mini projects in development concurrently. To improve on this project in the future we recommend optimizing the expendable circuit, optimizing the code, and adjusting the warning lights to turn off when unarmed.

We would also like to thank Delta-V Energetics for allowing us the opportunity to complete this project.

3D model of prototype