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As part of my initiation into the professional Mechanical Engineering Honor fraternity Pi Tau Sigma at UC Berkeley, the egg drop contest was a design challenge presented to us in order to be accepted.
As part of my initiation into the professional Mechanical Engineering Honor fraternity Pi Tau Sigma at UC Berkeley, the egg drop contest was a design challenge presented to us in order to be accepted.
Design Constraints: A cheap, environmental, and reusable way to package eggs.
Design Constraints: A cheap, environmental, and reusable way to package eggs.
- Must protect the egg from a drop of at least two stories
● Device must be reusable
● Device must not exceed 8’’ cubic inches (8’’ x 8’’ x 8’’)
● No parachute-like system allowed
○ Other methods of slowing the drop are permitted (e.g. wings)
Materials
Materials
● Cardboard
● Small thin packing materials (no packing peanuts!)
● Straws
● Tape
● Common consumer-grade materials (e.g paper, eraser, etc. – NO 3D PRINTING!)
Solution
Solution
Our solution was to use cups that were given for free from a nearby convention, and use them as an omni-directional structure that can fall in any alignment. Using the hollow space inside the cups, we used strings to suspend a foam cradle that held the egg.
Our solution was to use cups that were given for free from a nearby convention, and use them as an omni-directional structure that can fall in any alignment. Using the hollow space inside the cups, we used strings to suspend a foam cradle that held the egg.
Using a pipe-cleaner, we bent it and affixed it to holes in the cup to use as a locking system to open and close the device.
Using a pipe-cleaner, we bent it and affixed it to holes in the cup to use as a locking system to open and close the device.
Result: Our device survived up to a five-story drop. With our theory that it has reached terminal velocity at this height, it could possibly survive a drop up to 100 stories!
Result: Our device survived up to a five-story drop. With our theory that it has reached terminal velocity at this height, it could possibly survive a drop up to 100 stories!
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