Micro Class plane 2025/2026

Overview

Unlike my previous two years on UBC AeroDesign where I focused on the aircraft's tail structure, my primary responsibility on Toothless was designing the payload system for the 2025/2026 SAE Aero Design East Micro Class competition in Lakeland, Florida. The challenge was to create an extremely lightweight payload system that prevented the aircraft's center of gravity from shifting as different water payload configurations were loaded and unloaded, while fitting within the irregular geometry of the fuselage and complying with all SAE Micro Class competition rules. I initially developed a compartmentalized, baffled payload system to minimize fluid movement, but prototyping revealed that the added structure introduced an unacceptable weight penalty. After evaluating the tradeoffs, I redesigned the system into an accordion-style payload that uses interchangeable external spacers to reduce the available water volume. This approach constrained fluid movement, maintained a more consistent center of gravity across payload configurations, and achieved the same objective with significantly lower mass. The project relied heavily on iterative prototyping and physical testing. I designed the payload assembly in SolidWorks, manufactured multiple prototypes, and conducted tensile testing on TPU sheet materials and various joining methods using a desktop tensile testing machine to quantify joint failure strength and validate the design before flight testing. The final system balanced weight, durability, manufacturability, and regulatory requirements while integrating around the aircraft's complex internal rib structure.

Key Deliverables

• Designed and manufactured a lightweight adjustable payload system to minimize center of gravity shift during varying water payload configurations.
• Evaluated multiple design concepts through rapid prototyping.
• Performed tensile testing of TPU materials and joining methods to quantify failure loads and validate manufacturing processes.