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Indiana State
University’s Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and Society of
Automotive Engineer (SAE) have teamed up to build a hovercraft. With
encouragement from Chris Fitzgerald , founder of the World Hovercraft
Organization and president of Neoteric Hovercraft, Inc., in Terre
Haute, the ISU team spent long hours planning , designing and
building their hovercraft from a material kit purchased from Universal
Hovercraft in Harvard, Ill. The materials kit the ISU team is using
consists of plywood, foam, fiberglass, epoxy, contact cement,
PVC-coated nylon, a propeller, an aluminum hub, a 10 horsepower
Tecumseh engine, and screws and pulleys. The purchase of the kit was
made possible by a donation of $1,060 from the local parent chapter of SME 275. The local chapter 275 has been a big supporter of the ISU
student chapter 089.
A team of 15 ISU
students began working on the Hovercraft project in January, 2004. “A
lot of SME guys were graduating and were really wanted to do something
before they left ISU.” The students downloaded a set of hovercraft blueprints
from
www.DiscoverHover.org, the website of the World Hovercraft
Organization’s International School Hovercraft Program, which provides
hovercraft plans and instructions at no charge to students, schools
and youth organizations. The ISU team then began a redesign of the
original blueprints. According to Dave Oelschlager, a senior from
Columbia City, Ind., who was also heavily involved
in the project, the redesigning of the blueprints took well over 70
hours of volunteer work. Through the use of AutoCAD and Pro-E, junior
high and high school students can easily understand the new
blueprints. Rob Wilson, Neoteric Hovercraft’s Technical Director in
Australia, is currently reviewing the new plans for accuracy. “ISU
played a key role in taking the DiscoverHover Build-a-Hovercraft
School Project to schools and students throughout the world by
creating a prototype project for the program and improving the
original plans,” said Sharolyn Herring, marketing director for
Neoteric Hovercraft and the World Hovercraft Organization. James
Smallwood, chairperson and professor of manufacturing/construction
technology and Mike Hayden, professor of industrial/mechanical
technology, served as advisers to the students.
“When an
organization does a project like this, it gives students additional
real-life, problem-solving skills,” Smallwood said. “They are not only
doing the work, they are managing a project. We’ve learned that, all
else being equal, a manager who has experience in the technology
behind a project is a better manager than one who does not have that
experience, we’re preparing managers.” Hovercraft operates by floating
on a cushion of air over land, water, ice and mud. “They’re very
environment friendly, with little impact,” Herring continued. “A
hovercraft can be flown over a nest of bird’s eggs without harming
them.
The pictures below
were taken at the end of spring semester, 2004. Students were able to
get the craft running around Campus before they finally had an
opportunity to race their hovercraft. On October 16, 2004 several
students took the craft to the Lazy L Lake in West Terre Haute, IN
to compete in the 2004 Hoosier Championship competition sponsored by
the World Hovercraft Organization.
Fred Simmons, Jr.,
a seasoned race car driver drove the craft in two races. In the
Novice race, which included five hovercrafts, the ISU hovercraft
finished last but the students were able to complete all the laps in the race over land and water.
Determined to do better, students further fine tuned the hovercraft
and were set for the next race, in which the ISU hovercraft did do very
well. Overall, it was a great day and students enjoyed the day and
had a great time. Since, Spring of 2005, SME students are continuing
the work on the Hovercraft trying to improve its power, performance
and handling capability.
Click on Photos to enlarge
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