Hovercraft manufacturing plan (electrical part).

1) Purchase all required components (servo, DC motors, wires, battery,

receiver, DC/DC step down converter and transmitter)
2) Connect components separately to a battery and check how they work ( if
the components will not work, we will check if the power supply works
properly using multimeter and if it is not the case, we will order a new
component).( I expect this to take couple of days and it depends on if we
will have to order and replace components)
3) Connect components together (make a circuit which operates the
hovercraft) and test the system (avoid testing on a maximum power as it
can be dangerous for the battery).
4) Together with Lift and Thrust Engineer, separately test the lift (does the
motor provide enough lift and practically measure how much power it
requires) and thrust (does the motor provide enough thrust with motors
provided and again how much power it requires).
5) Find out how to maintain the rotational speed for lift on the transmitter
(we dont need to change the speed as it has to be the same all the time
and fixed)
6) Accelerate the hovercraft to 1.4 m/s and check if the system can do that
without exceeding nominal current of battery. ( this can only happen 2-3
weeks before the competition)

Final selection
Components of the circuit were selected by its price, mass and effectiveness. Both DC motors have
maximum rotational speed of 19000 RPM, which is more than enough for providing lift and thrust,
they have a maximum operational power of 19.68W and its nominal operating voltage is 5V. In terms
of mass, both motors are quite light with having a mass of 69 grams each. Servomotor has a nominal
operating voltage of 6V, maximum rotational angle of 180o and 11 grams of mass, which is very light
and practical. Battery will be used to supply the circuit by connecting it to the receiver. The receiver
will distribute the signals to all devices. As it is noticeable on the circuit diagram given below,
receiver will be connected to a battery through a step down converter. Since receiver operates on 5V,
it is very dangerous to connect it directly to the battery, which has 11.1V output. Step down converter
will regulate the voltage for to the desired value (5V). Hovercraft will be operated remotely using
transmitter

It is very important to determine the exact amount of current flow through

each of the circuit device, to estimate the battery life and prevent any
damaging.
Each motor has a maximum operating power of 19.68W and operates on 5V, so
I==3.936A current flow through each motor.
Iservo= 450mA estimated current flow through servomotor.
Itotal=3.936+3.936+0.450=8.322A total current in the circuit.
Battery has a nominal current of 7A and discharge cut off current of 102A

Battery capacity 2600 mA

Battery life = Total current the circuit = 8322mA = 0.31h=18.6 minutes.

It is obvious, that running the hovercraft at its maximum capabilities all the time,
will destroy the battery, since the total current is close to its cut off value, but
operating it on average speed and not pushing it to the limit will provide the
system safety and good work. Moreover, the batterys charge will last longer,
which is very important on the tournament and the battery will last for more than
10 minutes, which will be given to us on that competition.