Egg Parachute Design

Replies

• 

  Kaustubh Katdare

  Interesting design challenge. Have you thought of a design? Please share it with us so that our fellow engineers can suggest improvements and newer, innovative designs. 😀
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  lal

  In the past, as children, we used to make parachutes of poly-ethylene sheets for fun. It was like this, we would cut a square piece of poly-ethylene sheet and tie threads of equal length at each corner. We would tie the free ends togeather to a stone or some plastic 'figure'. Then this miniature parachute is wrapped around the load and thrown high up, it would descend slowly to make a soft landing while floating with the wind while in the air.
  
  I remember the weight really mattered. If the load was increased by a small amount, the surface area of the polythene sheet had to be made verymuch larger. An egg is quite heavy. I think it would need a very large surface area with the unscientific setup I mentioned.
  
  Ehm, there isn't nothing much about design in my post. Just the memories started to flow 😁
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  Ramani Aswath

  The landing surface has a lot to do with it even with a parachute. If the egg lands on granite or concrete, it might still break, while it may be safe in loose mud. Consider this option: Design a parachute with any weight at the bottom. Place the egg in the middle of the canopy on top. You may have to provide small air holes around the egg to give stability to the chute in descent. If there is a cross wind, you can still have problems.
• 

  Ammar Aziz

  bioramani

  The landing surface has a lot to do with it even with a parachute. If the egg lands on granite or concrete, it might still break, while it may be safe in loose mud. Consider this option: Design a parachute with any weight at the bottom. Place the egg in the middle of the canopy on top. You may have to provide small air holes around the egg to give stability to the chute in descent. If there is a cross wind, you can still have problems.

  Atually when this idea came into my mind then the granite surface is in my mind. because if the landing surface is made up of soft clay then there are possibilities that the land of soil absorbs a large amount of impact energy, between egg and soil and the competition lowers. i want a so efficient design which if dropped from just 3rd floor of a building attain immediately the balance and a descent slowly by overcoming the gravitational acceleration. Also sir as you explain something about making holes i do not understand that please throw light on it in some detail.
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  Ammar Aziz

  lal

  In the past, as children, we used to make parachutes of poly-ethylene sheets for fun. It was like this, we would cut a square piece of poly-ethylene sheet and tie threads of equal length at each corner. We would tie the free ends togeather to a stone or some plastic 'figure'. Then this miniature parachute is wrapped around the load and thrown high up, it would descend slowly to make a soft landing while floating with the wind while in the air.
  
  I remember the weight really mattered. If the load was increased by a small amount, the surface area of the polythene sheet had to be made verymuch larger. An egg is quite heavy. I think it would need a very large surface area with the unscientific setup I mentioned.
  
  Ehm, there isn't nothing much about design in my post. Just the memories started to flow 😁

  Thank you friend for your experience sharing!
• 

  Ammar Aziz

  The_Big_K

  Interesting design challenge. Have you thought of a design? Please share it with us so that our fellow engineers can suggest improvements and newer, innovative designs. 😀

  I have the situation in my mind and according to that i am also experimenting different designs but still i am unable to land the egg safely. so i need some suggestions. but keep in mind that the atmospheric pressure at ground level is not too much high.
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  Ramani Aswath

  Ammar Aziz

  Atually when this idea came into my mind then the granite surface is in my mind. because if the landing surface is made up of soft clay then there are possibilities that the land of soil absorbs a large amount of impact energy, between egg and soil and the competition lowers. i want a so efficient design which if dropped from just 3rd floor of a building attain immediately the balance and a descent slowly by overcoming the gravitational acceleration. Also sir as you explain something about making holes i do not understand that please throw light on it in some detail.

  The holes are to allow a controlled leak from the top of the canopy. Otherwise the descent will not be stable and fairly violent oscillations can happen, especially in cross winds. The main thing is to cushion the impact as you yourself indicated.
• 

  CE Designer

  Of course you must place the egg in a harness and attache the parachute to the harness. I would recommend using a plastic material for the cute since an egg is relatively heavy. I am unsure of how serious an answer you need.
• 

  zaveri

  The egg is something too brittle, and it may break even the contact surface is soft clay or sand.
  
  so i suggest that the egg be wrapped with some protective material, around the portion , which will contact the ground.
  
  let this material be thermocol.
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  Ammar Aziz

  CE Designer

  Of course you must place the egg in a harness and attache the parachute to the harness. I would recommend using a plastic material for the cute since an egg is relatively heavy. I am unsure of how serious an answer you need.

  you help me a lot but still i need some advanced design recommendations!
• 

  Ammar Aziz

  zaveri

  The egg is something too brittle, and it may break even the contact surface is soft clay or sand.
  
  so i suggest that the egg be wrapped with some protective material, around the portion , which will contact the ground.
  
  let this material be thermocol.

  brother you are right but i need a design so efficient that it descends the egg at too much slow rate such that the impact of egg with ground causes no harm to egg.
• 

  Ammar Aziz

  when i explore the working of a parachute an intersting thing came to my mind.
  i thought that if egg falls from certain height and if through some design modifications i increase the time of flight then certainly the impact of egg with ground causes less harm to egg.
  so more is the time of flight less is the chance of damge.
  now the smallest distance between two points is a straight line. so can we design a parachute which descends along some curved path or along a line making some angle with the horizon. i need some suggestions???
• 

  zaveri

  Ammar Aziz

  when i explore the working of a parachute an intersting thing came to my mind.
  i thought that if egg falls from certain height and if through some design modifications i increase the time of flight then certainly the impact of egg with ground causes less harm to egg.
  so more is the time of flight less is the chance of damge.
  now the smallest distance between two points is a straight line. so can we design a parachute which descends along some curved path or along a line making some angle with the horizon. i need some suggestions???

  
  for an object falling freely from an height under gravity, the path it traces will be a straight vertical line.
  
  but however if you want to increase the length of the path, then even the shape of the path should deviate from exactly vertical. this can be brought by the wind forces acting on the chute.
  
  by the way how does an air craft change its path of flight by rolling, pitching and yawing. if the dome of the chute can be designed in such a way, then the path can be elongated.
• 

  lal

  More than time, I think the speed is important. If the egg is directed to descend at an angle or a curve and attains a large horizontal speed, in the end when the egg touches the ground, the resultant force acting on it will be high. Resultant force depends on the horizontal speed and vertical speed. But if we can keep the resultant speed at which the egg descends to a low value, it is certain that the force on the egg will be less too.
  
  And the cross winds will make it even harder to control the descending angle of the parachute and horizontal speed component.
• 

  CE Designer

  Make a harness out of bubble wrap.
  If you want a slow descent use a large parachute. A large surface area will give you more drag.
  Bubble wrap together with a slow descent will ensure that the egg does not crack.
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  Ammar Aziz

  so i have an egg with mass 75 grams. let us suppose that the weight of parachute and egg is not more than 80g. Now if we calculate the gravitational force on the chute and egg then it comes out to be 0.784532 Newtons according to the formula "F=ma". now at least an upward drag due to air of magnitude 0.784532 Newtons must act on chute so that egg descends at terminal speed.
  after calculation i got the value of 2.09 meters per second by using the diameter of parachute 0.5 meters. i want to ask that this speed is safe for egg during its impact with granite surface or not.
  please suggest me the safe speed for egg landing on granite surface
• 

  Jeffrey Arulraj

  Ammar Aziz

  so i have an egg with mass 75 grams. let us suppose that the weight of parachute and egg is not more than 80g. Now if we calculate the gravitational force on the chute and egg then it comes out to be 0.784532 Newtons according to the formula "F=ma". now at least an upward drag due to air of magnitude 0.784532 Newtons must act on chute so that egg descends at terminal speed.
  after calculation i got the value of 2.09 meters per second by using the diameter of parachute 0.5 meters. i want to ask that this speed is safe for egg during its impact with granite surface or not.
  please suggest me the safe speed for egg landing on granite surface

  Trial and error is the only way to find this out. I am not sure if you can maintain the calculated value in real time environmental conditions where shear forces are higher than vertical forces acting on the chute
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  Ammar Aziz

  Conqueror

  Trial and error is the only way to find this out. I am not sure if you can maintain the calculated value in real time environmental conditions where shear forces are higher than vertical forces acting on the chute

  i m sure that i m on the safe side if i use this value but can anyone tell me that what should be the velocity of egg during its impact with granite ground such that it does not break.
• 

  vikas reddy

  Ammar Aziz

  when i explore the working of a parachute an intersting thing came to my mind.
  i thought that if egg falls from certain height and if through some design modifications i increase the time of flight then certainly the impact of egg with ground causes less harm to egg.
  so more is the time of flight less is the chance of damge.
  now the smallest distance between two points is a straight line. so can we design a parachute which descends along some curved path or along a line making some angle with the horizon. i need some suggestions???

  if you want to increase the time of flight then use a glider design and to decrease further impact fuse it with basic parachute model..
  try it once a combo of glider and parachute
• 

  lal

  What is the progress Ammar? How is it going? Share your results, we are eager to know 😀
• 

  G.D

  #-Link-Snipped-# , the drag due to air should not exceed 0.784532(should be less than this value) since if the value equals this or greater, egg will not descend. it will remain stationary or lift up.
  for safe landing, you can use foam bucket inside which you can place an EGG.
• 

  Ramani Aswath

  Any object heavier than air will only fall in stationary air. As its velocity increases, the drag increases till the air resistance balances the weight. At this state the velocity becomes a constant called the settling velocity.
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  Ammar Aziz

  lal

  What is the progress Ammar? How is it going? Share your results, we are eager to know 😀

  Dear friend i make a parachute and it provides me satisfactory results soon i upload its video
• 

  Ammar Aziz

  Here is the link through which you can watch the parachute designed by me under the heading of 'how parachute works'. please suggest me something after watching this video
  LEARN FOR UNDERSTANDING: VIDEOS
• 

  Ramani Aswath

  Looks quite good to me. Nice job. Congrats.
  Does it have a hole at the top of the chute? It seems to wobble a bit. If there is a hole the leaking air creates a drag that stabilises the descent.
• 

  Ammar Aziz

  bioramani

  Looks quite good to me. Nice job. Congrats.
  Does it have a hole at the top of the chute? It seems to wobble a bit. If there is a hole the leaking air creates a drag that stabilises the descent.

  Thank you very much. Actually at the top of the chute there is no hole it is actually a small canopy and i introduce it in my chute by keeping in mind that during the fall of chute through the air this canopy fills up with air and serves as a stabilizer against the shearing forces acting on the chute.
• 

  Ramani Aswath

  Ammar Aziz

  Thank you very much. Actually at the top of the chute there is no hole it is actually a small canopy and i introduce it in my chute by keeping in mind that during the fall of chute through the air this canopy fills up with air and serves as a stabilizer against the shearing forces acting on the chute.

  The problem is that the canopy gets filled and as the chute descends more air tries to get in. This is what causes a bit of wobble. If there is a hole some of the air spill through this creates a drag that keeps the canopy vertical and steady.
  
  Look at this article. Right at the end is the description of the hole in the canopy.
  #-Link-Snipped-#
  
  This picture shows the spill hole at the top.
  
  
• 

  Ammar Aziz

  bioramani

  The problem is that the canopy gets filled and as the chute descends more air tries to get in. This is what causes a bit of wobble. If there is a hole some of the air spill through this creates a drag that keeps the canopy vertical and steady.
  
  Look at this article. Right at the end is the description of the hole in the canopy.
  #-Link-Snipped-#
  
  This picture shows the spill hole at the top.
  
  

  that is good but may be it reduces the time of flight