Tres VolcanusConceptual Design Review

Community College of AuroraAdam Kim

Ian Jones

Dani Strohmier

06/10/10

• Mission Overview

– Tres Volcanus is interested in analyzing samples collected from the troposphere and stratosphere of changes in sulfur dioxide, sulfuric acid and aerosols due to recent volcanic activity.

– Our group hopes to learn more about any effects, with relation to human life, due to volcanic eruptions. We hope to learn how far reaching ash from volcanoes can be and how long particles from the ash can stay in the air.

– To collect and analyze samples, our group plans to include air pumps in our payload. We will have two bulbs or bladders attached to valves in the pump. The pump will activate at the tropospheric level and fill one bladder, then again at the stratospheric level to fill the other. We will then take those samples and analyze them in a lab at a later date.

– Our group became interested in this experiment because of the Icelandic volcano eruption that lasted a week and halted the majority of air travel over Europe in April. In researching other experiments, we came across a group that also launched a balloon in Larimer, Wyoming after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991 to study aerosol layers.

• Though the volcano erupted half a world away, the group did find an increase in sulfur dioxide. The only issue here was that they had no way to prove that the increases were from volcanic eruptions or from normal, man-made emissions.

– We will require various hardware and software for the payload (described in detail below), and a lab and analysis equipment after launch. We also have a budget of $600 and a weight limit of 1.5 kg, so we will need to stay under that.

• Subsystem Requirements

- So far we are looking at needing a microcontroller, a heating system, a pump and intake valve, and bladders/bulbs. We will also need a power source, likely to be 9V batteries. We currently have a basic stamp and are researching other materials.

- We will need to find a pump that is cost and weight feasible, and determine how much of each sample we can have on board our payload, and whether that amount will be enough to analyze later.

- We are still researching powering options and sampling options, though we do expect to keep the heating system separate from crucial hardware such as the stamp, though we may need to keep it closer to our collection devices to make sure nothing freezes.

- We expect the sampling system to be a design driver. We need to make sure nothing gets frozen while at altitude and that the pressure isn’t too great to make anything burst.

• Special Requirements

– Finding a pump that will keep us under 1.5 kg and that will not break

our budget.

• Our payload will have a hole(s) cut in the side with the intake valve inserted in so we can collect samples. This version of our design has two pumps, though that is just one version, we still are not sure on parts and cost and may just do one pump.

• The stamp will operate the pump(s) with an on/off switch we will control from the ground through the transceiver.

• A pressure monitoring system will let us know when to activate the pump(s) based on altitude.

• We will have a heating and powering system on board as well.

• The flight string shall go through the center of our payload.

• Test Plans

- Pre-flight, we plan to do the standard tests (whip test, cooler test, etc.), but we will also need to test our bladders/bulbs to determine how much of a sample we can collect, but still meet basic payload requirements.

- To complete testing we will need to test our pumps with some sort of solution that will cleanse the pump between samples. We are currently enlisting help from a chemistry faculty member to research options.

- We are concerned about filling a bladder at altitude, because the pressure up there increases a balloons volume. If our bladders burst, we will not have anything to analyze. We are also worried about cross-contamination of the two types of samples, but we hope to test flushing out our pump between the tropospheric and stratospheric levels.

• Parts List

- We will need to purchase a pump with intake valve and two valves for collection, a microcontroller, barometer, heater, powering supplies, bladders and bulbs, foam core, various construction materials (glue, tape, etc.) and insulating materials.

- We already have basic stamps to use for our payload and constructions materials. We are researching pumps that are cost and weight feasible.

- We expect to come in under $600.

• Conclusions

– Our concerns currently are mainly finding parts that fit basic

requirements. We will also need to test our pumping system to make sure there is no cross-contamination and that anything we collect will be enough to analyze later.