News

Here you find everything the was going on the last weeks.

Week 1

Our team's transition from "camp fire philosophy" to challenging technical discussions and business-lunch-meetings, was completed with varying degrees of enthusiasm and success. However, as our "Kick-off" event demonstrated, our team shows huge motivation and is excited to finally convert creative ideas into reality. (Picture: Wikipedia)

Week 2

We've spent the whole weekend testing motors in the air and underwater, inside a big bucket right in front of the doors of the ETH. After a big dinner and a good night's sleep, the testing of structural components took place in our very professional test range a.k.a. the swimming pool. All in all a good weekend with lots and lots of results!

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Week 3

Week 3 was spent in concept planning and evaluation of results. We performed a comprehensive research and review phase, and calculated initial performance metrics. This has helped establish our foundational know how, to guide upcoming decisions about critical features.

Week 4

The fourth week of project "Dipper" had the goal "visualize to convince". We grabbed paper and pencil, or tablet and stylus, and generated the first designs for our version 0. Although there are no Picasso's or Van Gogh's in our midst, we were still positively surprised by the drawing skills of some of our teammates.

Week 5

Just in time for the AMIV Kontakt, the job fair of our student organisation, we finished our website and set out to find know-how, sponsors and partners. We encountered lots of excitement for our project, and didn't return empty handed.

Week 6

Recap: In week 4, after sobering propulsion tests in the Limmat, we chose to "sink" our initial concept of using a ducted fan. The mood in the propulsion team had recovered by week 6, after tests of our underwater screw in the Katzensee. Excited by the good performance of the propulsion concept, we barely noticed the cold water. That is, until the coughing began.

Week 7

We experienced our contribution to the list of aircraft crashes in Switzerland this year. However, as bachelor students, our unmanned RC planes are quickly and pragmatically repaired with super glue. Our fear of being grounded by BAZL was therefore unfounded, and we resumed flight operations after extensive analysis and repairs. Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, our test aircraft performed in a completely controllable manner, and we could celebrate our first automatic flight.

Week 8

Does our diving aircraft resemble a Gannette, or a Penguin? For our first review, we were not yet ready to answer this question. Instead, we prepared and presented our ideas thus far. Following the 20 minute presentation, our supporting professors and sponsors visited our remarkably well organized office to discuss the results in detail. Their sometimes critical questions, helped bring our project a big step forward towards building a prototype. The positive feedback confirmed that we are on the right path, even if the journey is still long.

Week 9

White shirts, combed hair (for most) and a quick smile, even if life at ETH doesn't match the glamour of a "model-life", we too found ourselves in front the camera. With our slightly mismatched shoes and pants, we found ourselves at Dubendorf airport in front of a Pilatus PC-7. Here we experienced an exciting afternoon away from the office, trading flashing computer screens against camera flashes. We would like to thank the Swiss Berufsfliegerkorps who made this unique opportunity possible.

Week 10

Design freeze was the topic of the week. Principally, this was very exciting as it meant our CAD model was now ready to enter production. However, our underestimation of this challenge became obvious as we spent countless hours refining the CAD to production ready status. This process was only completed after each model had been cleaned up, all tiny details corrected, and technical drawings had been generated. Having completed the design freeze, we turned to our 3D printers to convert models into reality, one print at a time.

Week 11

Good things come to those who wait. We hope that this quote is also applicable to our still nameless Version 0. Since last week, parts have been slowly arriving for our first prototype. Even our 3D printer is not standing still, producing parts inside of a new thermally insulating "hotbox". The controls team has stepped away from the heights of flying, instead implementing our underwater control strategy using a model "submarine" inside the freezing lake Zurich.

Week 12

This week brought the "Dipper" team back down to earth. It was to be expected that not all aspects of the project would work as planned. This was certainly illustrated by this week. The production of our actual prototype took longer than expected, and didn't deliver the results we had hoped. A few production problems are not enough to derail our project, and we look positively to the next weeks where the next challenges await.

Week 13

Our ETH-Highlight was certainly Thursday, the conclusion to a short but intensive week 14. We had the opportunity to summarize all our experiences gained thus far, and to present these and our prototype to our coaches, research partners and sponsors. Our day wasn't finished with the presentations. After an interesting, solution-oriented discussion in working groups and an Apero, team Dipper made its way to the swimming pool. Under the supervision of our lifeguard Max, our prototype was put through its paces. Despite roughly equal amounts of water inside as outside of our capsule, we were able to gain valuable experience and could enter the break feeling positive.

Gap Semester

Halftime! After one semester of testing and construction, our first prototype is finished. The appearance leaves room for aerodynamic optimization, but the objective is to take the hardware to the swimming pool to gather practical experience. This knowledge will be taken back to the drawing board, where the modular development of the system will continue. Despite the motivation for our exciting project, the rest of our studies cannot be forgotten. The lectures which were sometimes neglected during the semester now require extra attention during this period so close to the exams.

Week 23

As expected, the extensive tests performed between the semesters identified several weaknesses in our concept. As most boat and submarine builders can certainly confirm, the battle to prevent water leakage is a significant challenge. Especially, when water ingress is associated with a loss of electronics as it is in our case. Based on our test results, the objective is focus on rapid and modular development.

Week 24

Even though the ride back to the office from the ETH Hönggerberg involved carrying more parts than the way there, this week was definitely a success. We can finally confirm that the "Dipper" flies! We experimented with various airfoils and production methods, to find the best compromise between lift and buoyancy, a challenge that is continuously prevalent in our project.

Week 25

Week 25 was demanding for project "Dipper". Everyone's frustration limit was reached, at the latest at 4 AM in the swimming pool. Even though no new discoveries about our system were made, the intensive and motivated work was not in vain. A new CAD structure was implemented, and fresh renderings were generated. Now we want to start into the next week full of energy.

Week 26

Those who work a lot must also provide documentation. This should not only describe our activities and the achieved results, but also give the team the opportunity to reflect on the past weeks and months. It was also a good opportunity to reflect on the decision-making process and the derive results for the future. Naturally this means that several problems on the system must remain unresolved. For the coming week, the whole team is again excited to once again tackle our numerous tricky problems.

Week 27

Those who believe that aircraft design is the pinnacle of mechanical engineering should first try and keep submersed electronics free of moisture! The first 3D printed prototypes of our electronics compartment, which were more water resistant than waterproof have long since been archived. Additionally, while water bottles are known for their ability to contain water, and electronics capsule solutions based upon them was unable to protect our controller from decidedly wet surroundings. Team Dipper however now intimately familiar with all water bottles sold in Zurich.

Week 28

That the trajectory of an electron is not precisely predictable due to their quantum nature is a fact that is known by all mechanical engineers. Unfortunately this reality seems to affect our electronics, and is producing sleepless nights for our electrical engineers. A systematic search for errors revealed that a majority of these inexplicable problems could be resolved through careful and systematic cabling and soldering. The pressure sensor is one of the only components whose non-functionality can only be attributed to dark magic. Our electronics team has produced a poster-child in the form of custom sensor PCB.

Week 29

Eureka, the electronics are dry. Sometimes it is worth taking a step back, to consider your roots. Our "new" water-proofing concept is based on simple, fundamental principles of mechanical engineering. This, combined with modern and waterproof connectors have helped elevate our underwater testing. Just like the electronics packaging, our wings have also undergone a significant evolution in their appearance. From 3D printed "open-airfoils" through interim solutions from the model shop, we have arrived at thin, high performance wings made from laminated carbon. This process enables the production of new weeks within 48 hours. We would like to thank our sponsor Suter Composite for supporting this process with materials and know-how.

Week 30

In contrast to week 29, where the focus was on mechanical components, the focus this week has transitioned to control and thus on programming. As this aspect of the project is still in its infancy, a variety of problems inevitably appear. The pressure sensor continues to cause the collapse of the entire controller, resulting in increasingly furrowed brows. However, the water ingress and egress modules are making excellent progress, and are standing in the starting gates for their real world tests. The first successful water ingress tests of the prototype are keeping everyone motivated and ensuring good team spirit.

Week 31

"Sea travel is fun, sea travel is beautiful" as the children's song correctly identifies. This turns out to be true not only for children, but also for students and their flying submarines. A wonderful day by the water, with the stunning backdrop of Lake Lucerne was selected to perform water ingress tests. Nevertheless, a stiff breeze and the start from a moving motorboat provided some cause for concern. We once again confirmed that with with enough enough thrust anything that vaguely resembles an aircraft will fly and can be brought to dive into the water.

Week 32

The easily visible lack of refinement in the fluid-dynamic optimization of our system has presumably been noticed by everyone. That’s why the external profile of our system and the determination of the drag coefficient played a central role. Although the original motivation to perform a CFD simulation was unfeasible due to technical complexity, it was still possible to give our “Dipper” a facelift. This iterative process, which repeatably sent us to our water channel, the river Limmat, was ultimately successful and led to a reduction of the drag underwater.

Week 33

Week 33 was soothing for our souls. Finally, our hardware has reached a maturity that allows reliable testing. Now the control sub-team can test to their hearts content and validate the several hundred lines of untested code. In subsequent tests we will see whether the diverse lectures and labs in control theory are applicable in the real world. It remains to hope for good flight weather and warm lake temperatures, to ensure that our search and recue team doesn’t freeze too much in the event of an off field landing.

Week 34

This week the focus project “Dipper” once again utilized our greatest strength – agile development and 3D printing. These two factors have enabled us to react quickly and improve our prototype on short notice. The speed of an iteration cycle was once again proven this week. Our day began like many others with a test flight, which sadly led to an unfortunate failure. A short video analysis identified the folding mechanism as the source of the failure – too much play in the structure. At the end of the day a new prototype mechanism was lying on the table. This was optimized over the next 4 days with respect to loading, weight and stability and finally constructed. Not even a week after our aggressive landing the new folding mechanism was validated in flight.

Week 35

The roll-out is approaching! This emotional highlight, during which all teams present the results of their 9 months of hard work, motivates us to present our project in the best light. Because a picture says a thousand words, and these are now preferred in moving format, we spent the last few days concentrating on filming. Whether with a drone, our own camera or in the photo studio, we have always attempted to present our “Dipper” in a good light. But back to the technical aspects of our project. Whether in flight, underwater or during water ingress / egress our system is now showing a good figure. That’s why we can spend the next few days focussing on dynamics and tuning.

Anyone who has been following the project for the last 9 months, would like to ask a few questions, or simply wants to watch cool videos is invited to our roll-out presentation on the 28th of May. More information is available here.