Logbook

The logbook was regimented so that each week a different team member produced the Agenda and Minutes of the Advisor Meetings, Activities and Weekly Reports. This allowed each member to hone their recording and preparation for the coming week ahead.

1. Team allocation
2. Delivered proposals
3. Proposals investigation
4. Selection of Project #13 (Autonomous Sailing Boat)

1. Researched major boat components & standards
2. Familiarised and updated Wiki
3. Distributed tasks among team members in their favoured fields
4. Attempted to arrange a client meeting

1. Requirements
2. Functions test
3. Find cases of such designs and implementations
4. Gantt chart
5. Project management scope
6. Team building presentation
7. Meeting with client

1. State of the Art
   1. Boat Components/Geometry
   2. Mechanical Principles
2. Define Market Plan
3. Meeting with Fernando

1. Eco-eficiency Measures for Sustainability
   1. Presentation
   2. Collated into report
2. Marketing Finalisation
3. Material List Planning
4. State of Art Finalisation
5. Visited the Sport Club do Porto with Benedita

1. Interim Assessment
   1. Collate all acquired information from Sustainability, Marketing and Ethics to Report
   2. Presentation

1. Interim assessment wiki and presentation corrections
2. Began calculations
3. Began Materials research

1. Calculations on buyoancy, Lifts and moments with Fernando Ferreira.
2. Adjusting calculations in different cases.
3. Study of properties of different materials.
4. Study of work processes with different materials.
5. Researching possible providers for wood.

1. Calculations Draft
2. Basic Drawings/Concepts
3. Optional Materials
4. Possible Autonomous Control Testing

1. Draft Materials List
2. Draft Drawings
3. Started Paper
4. Started Video
5. Acquired Material for Foam Model

1. Submitted Materials List
2. Visited Suppliers
3. Produced Blueprints for Manufacture
4. Refined Manufacture Process

1. Built the foam model
2. Begin Video
3. Completed Poster

• Presentation
• Modus operandi
• Project proposals
• Electronic Logbook

The first meeting consisted of group allocation and proposal introductions, Benedita Malheiro presented a series of project proposals to which the group had to select in favour of undertaking. The proposals were discussed among the group and #13 and #7 were shortlisted as our favoured options. Benedita also discussed the Electronic Logbook which we could access through Wiki and the importance of updating this throughout our semester.

Objective

• Focus on building a boat, the controls for a autonomous boat or both?
• If a company name is copyrighted, can we still use this name?
• Product environment? (sea/pond/river)
• Speed/stability? for research or leisure?
• Will we be given a space and tools to build a boat?

Design

• Maximum and minimum dimensions/scale
• Aerodynamic/Hydrodynamic/Structural and Aeroelastic assistance when required from advisors?
• Engine back up system?

Technology

• Can we access the LSA for testing and advice?
• Is AutoCAD/Solidworks and similar CFD software available for use?
• Should we build a 3D model on more than one software?

Client

• Can you help arrange a meeting with Eduardo Silva?
• Website with product development optional?
• May we have to do a customer study?

Budget

• With the 500 € budget, will there be enough to build a prototype?
• When sourcing the materials can we ask for sponsorship from a company to reduce cost?
• Do we have to purchase tools to manufacture the boat?

• The advisors distinguished which approach we shall take on the design and manufacture of the boat. Although we are not developing a control system for the boat, all these considerations must be taken into consideration.
• The client has requested the following:

1. Individual rigid sail design to ease control and manoeuvrability of the boat.
2. Length dimension ranging from 2-3 metres.
3. To be used in any body of water (sea, lake, river etc.)
4. Design a storyboard to accompany the boat selection process.
5. Autonomous controls must be considered when designing the boat.
6. A polystyrene/other suitable material model due late March.

• Most softwares are not to be used, only Solidworks and it's flow software will be used at this time.
• Market researched was briefly touched on an area that we will collectively work together to complete.
• LSA workspace will also be available for use throughout the semester.
• Fernando Ferreira is the main contact for any queries regarding hydrodynamics and thermodynamics etc.
• Next weeks agenda was established by the advisors.

Objective

1. Are there available raw materials in the workshops?
2. Can you help us arrange a meeting with Alfredo?
3. Can we buy materials also after the deadline?
4. Can we base our calculations on only one book? Can also Fernando can give us help understanding the contents?
5. Where can we find a starting point on the main dimensions? Can we take an existing boat as a model?

Marketing

1. For the marketing plan, do we have to consider our prototype or the final product? just the sail boat or with the autonomous part?
2. Our real target market?

• Security
• Offshore/Nearshore energy sites (oil rigs, ports, wind farms etc.)
• Collecting data
• Hazard detection
• Scientific analysis of animals, global warming and deployed environments (sea, lakes, rivers etc.)

We had a meeting yesterday with Eduardo Silva, and so lots of questions were resolved.

• Material will be free from the workshop if available, we must produce a detailed list of materials including cost and source for the 27/03/2015. Even though the materials might not be available in the workshop the machines will be available for 30hours for entire EPS. The times will be allocated after the interim report on the 9th of April and each team will receive 10 hours workshop time.
• Alfredo is currently out of the country although Benedita has contacted him so that we can discuss the project at a later date. (aom.isep.ipp.pt)
• A meeting with our advisor, Fernando was arranged for the following day 4pm.
• The plan to arrange a meeting with the our client, Eduardo Silva to discuss our concrete plans and development of the project make meeting with Eduardo to discuss developed ideas.
• Boat dimensions can be adopted from a prerequisite design. One in particular is the Paralympics which is extremely stable boat with rigid single sail, solar panels size and enough for 4 people to handle.

• Our Market plan is to be aimed to the final goal, although we primarily concentrate on the subgoal we are always pushing towards final aim. This product can developed into a new market of any application domains/clients that we as a team sea that it can become successful. As sea exploration is trending it could be used for number of possibilities:
  1. Extraction of minerals
  2. Energy production
  3. Fish farms etc.

• We must not forget the main objective is to develop a mobile monitoring platform that can collect data, what data? depends on application domain? which can use basic to advanced sensors and appliances.
  1. This is all dependent on which niche market that we believe is suitable for the product.
  2. Our research has found that your boat will be useful in … domain, deploy this platform for wifi, water collection, rising tides etc.
  3. We are able to propose a better target and market to Eduardo if we believe it will be successful in this area.

• We can buy materials after deadline, but only through the university since it is unavailable for us to be rein burst for our purchase. Do so and become a sponsor.

The Week Ahead:

• Definition of requirements, Use Cases that includes a storyboard(end user for platform), State of the Art - (books/publications only)
• Literature Review for previous builds of functionality, architecture components used to comprehend the competition(2.4) and understand how to offer a better price or advanced system. We are continually working towards functionalities.

• Conclusion of each chapter must summaries the chapter and introduce the next.

Objective

• Can we put sources other reading materials in different languages for the bibliography?
• We have found ISO 12215-5:2008 - Small craft – Hull construction and scantlings – Part 5: Design pressures for monohulls, design stresses, scantlings determination.
  • Used in all areas of the project from sustainability (quality etc.), ethics (legislation etc.) and obviously construction and manufacture.
  • The build from these standards indicates boats at a minimum 2.5 metres, can we use this as our 'rule of thump' or should we follow throughout as it is recognised international standard?
• Is anchoring/mooring or distress signal an option?
  • As a safety precaution the event of damage, an anchor is activated to reduce the drift of the boat in open water. Allowing it to be retrieved easily.
  • At night, when no light and this no battery (Not enough sunlight to power it overnight). Can the boat lower the anchor to keep it's position.
  • Do we still need to do the foam model? Until when?

Testing

• If successful in the LSA tank, will be able to test it in open sea and/or the Duoro?
• Functional testing, to date we have buoyancy, sail and battery/motor/solar. Although the other tests depend on the domain we select. Should we bring forward the domain selection process to understand what is required for the test?

The main focus for this week is to focus on the state of art, which we are allowed to reference books in our own languages to gain a greater understanding of the information.

• Main focus lies in the book that Fernando has given us. If we use other sources of information primarily from physics of sailing type books we must reference all to the bibliography where general information can be stated.

• ISO standards have yet to be discussed due its dependency on our list of materials and a drawing, which has yet to be distinguished.
• Outsource or building stage to a contractor. This is yet to be discussed but our foam model must be complete before the list of materials is complete thus we must begin our 3D model on solid works which fits vital goals and that can be advanced further after modelling.

• It has been made clear that anchors are not an option as most sailing accidents occur nearshore and our boat will spend minimal to no time in this environment, instead it will be offshore where the water depth its to high for an available anchor.

Objective

• First off our materials list will most likely be complete by tomorrow, thus can we get an extensions?
• Bibliography HELP?! we don't understand how to reference our work on wiki. We do have records of all our information just not in the correct format.

• Advisers are interested in a design concept of both keel, hull and wing-sing. Concentrating on formula's for the geometry and stability of the boat before adhering to the material list.
• At this moment of our plans are unclear but general materials can be researched and discussed to speed up the selection process. List of materials can be supplied one week after easter, 12/04/2015.
  • Work continuously to complete the interim report for the 05/04/2015.

• Bibliography ⇒ Site map ⇒ refnotes [ ( ) ] ⇒ Notes, must be in the Harvard Referencing format.

• Concentrate on the design or choose to buy a hull, and adapt and modify to produce a better boat, with a rigid wing sail. The design must come to a c conclusions allowing a design solution decisions to the solution of the problem.

• Overview
  • Concentrate of state of the art for each design but always repeating to ensure the best possible concept is selected for the boat.
  • Follow links from Benedita to use previous working for the design of the rigid sail and autonomous sailboats as motivation.
  • Produce proposal solutions from calculations to prove our concepts and also produce design drawing solutions.

• Interim Assessment
  • ⇒ Presentation
  • ⇒ Report

Individually the advisors voiced their opinions of both the interim report and interim assessment. The following points were discussed:

• Interim Report
  • Well structured although some numeracy and spelling mistakes have been found.
  • Scientifically supported state of the art.
  • Glossary/list of abbreviations must be checked and updated.
  • Bibliography must be cross referenced with the report document.
  • Improve scale of pictures throughout the report.
• Interim Presentation
  • Combine topics in the agenda section to reduce the size of the slide.
  • Clear images were available to see to allow us to discuss our concepts.
  • Minute spelling flaws on last two slides.
  • Improvement in the flow of speech from person to person and separate time equally among the team.

Next development is to concentrate on the rigid wing-sail and produce a viable concept where it can be completed in a quick processes then concentration of the hull design must be addressed. If time is running low we may choose to externally purchase a hull of adequate size and scale although we must produce a hull development concept to ensure the purchased hull is the correct selection.

• Rigid Wing-sail
• Materials List
  • Our sizes are yet to be distinguished but may be submit the list of materials this afternoon with finalised production materials for only the sail.
• Referencing in different languages, we asked previously and were given the go-ahead to access information in our native languages. Although last week it was mentioned that Hungarian and Italian were not suitable.
• We can't seem to arrange CO2 in the correct format, can you help? (CO₂)
• Hull design concept

• It is vital that we meet with Fernando to discuss alterations to the project, seeking his guidance on the design and calculations of the boat.

• The project focus will now be put into the rigid wing-sail although all of these calculations must fit a specified boat for us to be able to design for us to allow compatibility with a hull. The hull dimensions can be taken from a pre-existing product and then built either by the team or commissioned by skilled workers elsewhere.

• The referencing must be taken from a primary source and not taken from secondary sources via the Internet. It is preferred if we can access sources from books, professional journals and articles. When references are taken from different languages, these must be converted into English to allow the advisors to access and read.

• Our hull design is a basic concept at the moment but calculations must be made to prove our concept via hydrodynamics and then aerodynamics calculations, as a team we must work intensively on this. We must to review different material types for each component and ensure there is available facilities to design and manufacture our wing and possible boat.

• Calculations on buyoancy, Lifts and moments with Fernando Ferreira.
• Adjusting calculations in different cases. Do you know someone with a lazer that could provide some specifications? with the specifications founded in Internet is difficult to forecast some measures like the volume.
• Study of properties of different materials.
• Study of work processes with different materials. Is there in university an expert in wood work processes? His help could be useful to better define the quantity of material to order.
• Researching possible providers for wood. Can you help us looking for the best one? with Portuguese language and patronage of ISEP will be simpler.

• If the internet was not sufficient in supplying all dimensions of the lazer, Benedita offered to prepare a meeting at the Sport Clube Do Porto to measure an available later.

• The materials properties were reviewed and the outcome are as follows:
  • Composites - Expensive and are too cumbersome to work with in the manufacturing stage but extremely high strength to weight ratio.
  • Wood
    • Plywood - Cheap in comparison to the option of a composite, Easy to work with although not fully suitable without a protective coating in a aquatic environment.
    • Maritime Plywood - More costly than normal plywood although difficult to find in a thickness lower than 4mm and also all companies that were approached do not stock this material. This is due to the insurance companies willingness not to insure boats of this thickness.
  • Plastic/Cloth - Both these materials are prone to be easily damaged while in operation and the manufacturing stage may also become difficult to the unpredictability of these materials.

As a team we have to justify the materials selection over the coming week, sourcing and quantifying the quantity of material required for our design, which must also be advanced following each components required dimensions. As soon as these calculations are complete the materials list can be send.

• The manufacturing process must be addressed and mastered to ensure minimal errors when it begins, from the internal structure of the boat to the external coverage and protection layer that must be applied.
• The scaled foam model must still be manufactured for the client
• The preparation of a team video presenting the project development of the project must also be addressed which must be no more than 5 minuets in length.
• The project paper can also be started in the coming week.

• Overview
  • The rigid wing-sail design must be adapted to fit a required hull which we can easily purchase on the market, otherwise we must build our wing and find the closest possible hull which matches to the specifications of the hull used to design the rigid wing sail.

• Boat Calculations Complete
• Material Calculations
• Drawings of Individual Components
• Testing

• Fernando is pleased with the Calculations table on the wiki, if there are no errors. The only problem is the format of the numbers, there is far too many decimal places for certain values as our readings can not be that accurate.
  • The rigid wing-sail calculations have found the weight of the wing to be a maximum of 15 kg, this can be lowered by the modification of the boat parameters when a boat is purchased.
• Drawings and drafts must be progressed and sent to Fernando including the materials list as promptly as possible. The blue prints and material calculations must be made and validated before the material list can be sent.

The materials selection must adhere to the maximum weight of 15 kg, these properties must be compared and the most adequate must be purchased, as components such as the mast don't work quite like normal masts. Normal mast sailboats have rigging and cables that take a lot of strain off the mast as our boat does not include these it is extremely more flexural in a rigid wing sail. A material in with a large yield must be selected to prevent deformation when in operation.

• Advisor Input on Materials:
  • Abel José Duarte - Expanding plastic, can be a substitute and be purchased in sizes of thickness as small as 1mm but it is not structural and is unlikely to be purchase in small sheets.
  • Benedita - Aluminium, It was discussed that its difficult to work with as an unskilled worker and takes many tools that the faculties might not have these.
• Manufacturing:
  • Everything must be perfectly aligned and positioned, as it will be clamped dry before glued.
  • Glue may not be strong enough to hold the wing when positioned upright.
• Testing:
  • The wing or a smaller version of the wing might be able to be testing in the LSA swimming pool using a fan to calculate the lift of the wing. It may be also be a possibility to test the stabilising system in the wing at this time too.

• Completed Materials List & 3D Designs - Begin Purchasing
• Organising the Project Development section of the report, would it be preferred to be in chronological or production process order.
  • Also may we add an entirely new section, 7.4 Manufacturing Process, in this section we will deliver in-depth information and figures on the cutting, glueing etc. of each component and how we intend to do so.
• We have some materials for the foam model, can we access tools and equipment to begin building a scaled model of our proposed design.
• The video has been started and we would like some of the advisors to star in the short video.
• When paper writing can we use the template provided and access previous years EPS and even professional papers for inspiration?

• Completed Material List with the supervision of Fernando Ferreira.
• Improved Project Development Chapter.
• Completed view of the manifacturing stages: Which tools are available on the workshop?
• View of the electronic dispositives: Do we have to buy and apply actuators despite our budget is already over?

• In the User Manual will we consider the use of the boat while in operation? via computer, pre-existing programmed locations or some other form of transition.
• We have sourced a possible actuator from Festo, but there is a problem finding a price. We have registered, emailed and even tried to call with little success.
• We are still finding trouble arrange equations and the bibliography is working but not to the template standard.