THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A team from Baselios Engineering College took part in the prestigious Airship Regatta competition organised as a part of the ‘International Conference on Design and Engineering of Lighter than Air Systems ( DELTAs-2022) at IIT Bombay.
Second-year mechanical engineering students Vignesh K, Arjun Dev J A, Gokul Krishna Gopakumar and V S Savio participated in the contest. Deepak G Dilip, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, was the guide.
“The competition was all about flying an airship between two poles to complete an eight maneuver. The airships which complete three-lap in minimum time are the winners. After the registration, we got only two months to prepare for the competition,” says Vighnesh.
According to him, the team faced many challenges during the preparation. “We can’t use hydrogen as a fuel since it is inflammable. Our only option was to use helium, which is very expensive. Another challenge was the unavailability of materials. Finally, we imported materials with the help of Professor Raj Kumar Pant of IIT Bombay. There is no written methodology for designing airship models. It involves pure mathematics and mechanics. The more experienced can create a sophisticated design. Our team made a modular one,” he says.
The Baselios team comprised the youngest participants among those who reached the final round.Their guide Deepak said the team was the only one from South India to attend the competition. “They have self-learned a lot. As a guide, I helped them clarify doubts and provided facilities for work and practice,” he said.
The contest
Airship Regatta competition mainly focuses on the participant’s talent in drafting and flying the airship, which is a premature model of aviation. The competition is organised by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale following the supporting code in association with the Aero Club of India (ACI). Here, the participants are supposed to design and remote control airships within the constraints.