Butane Bottle Rocket on Motorized 4-Bar Linkage
The goal of this project was to fill a 2-liter bottle with water and butane, and then flip the bottle by rotating a 4-bar linkage connected to a motor in order to launch the bottle as far as possible and over a minimum height. The link lengths were chosen such that they met the torque constraints on the motor and had a dwell angle that corresponded to the optimal launch angle. Files containing my code can be found in my GitHub Bottle-Launcher library.
Launch day! My team’s bottle was one of the farthest launched.
First time the prototype successfully lifted the bottle with weight
Laser-cut prototype of the bottle launcher. The rings hook onto the bottle so that the bottle flips with the linkages but can launch without interference.