From April 24th-26th, in Van Nuys, California, the School’s Aero Design team competed in the SAE Aero Design Series – West competition as part of the Advanced Class. The objective of the SAE Aero Design Advanced Class Competition is to design and manufacture an RC aircraft that has the capabilities of dropping a 3-pound humanitarian aid package accurately on a target from a minimum altitude of 100 feet.
Over 70 teams attended the competition, including groups from the United States, Poland, Egypt, India, Mexico, Canada, Japan, and China. This is the first year that TCNJ has competed in the Advanced Class of the competition, which per SAE, requires a systems approach to design while integrating several engineering disciplines: aeronautical, mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering.
The School of Engineering team, consisting of senior mechanical engineering majors Samuel Chen, Justin Gonzalez, Philip Kraus, Jonathan Wang, and Cody D’Ambrosio (electrical engineering), placed 4th Overall in the competition, 3rd in the Oral Presentation category and 3rd in Closest Drop to Target category out of the 17 teams competing in the Advanced Class.
The team members divided the responsibilities so that each member was in charge of specific main components of the plane. The components and responsibilities included the engine & testing, fuselage, wings, landing gear, tail, telemetry system, static payload, dynamic payload, and project management. Although responsibilities were divided, the team members communicated with each other to create an integrated design. The faculty advisors for this project were Dr. Lisa Grega, mechanical engineering department, and Dr. Orlando Hernandez, electrical engineering department.
