Parachute
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anachronist
- WRA2 Member
- Posts: 244
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 2:18 pm
Re: Parachute
Without electronics, you can use mechanical devices like a Tomy timer wind-up mechanism. The current 1-liter bottle champion on this website used that technique.
I had conceived of another method that I never implemented, sort of like one of those clicker pens where you push the button on the end to extend the pen, and push it again to retract. In this case, the nose cone would be mounted with a spring to cause it to separate, but held in place with a latch. The acceleration of the rocket causes the latch to disconnect, but the nose cone is held in place by air pressure until the spring can overcome the pressure, then it separates. The disadvantage to this is that separation is likely to occur before the rocket reaches its maximum height.
I had conceived of another method that I never implemented, sort of like one of those clicker pens where you push the button on the end to extend the pen, and push it again to retract. In this case, the nose cone would be mounted with a spring to cause it to separate, but held in place with a latch. The acceleration of the rocket causes the latch to disconnect, but the nose cone is held in place by air pressure until the spring can overcome the pressure, then it separates. The disadvantage to this is that separation is likely to occur before the rocket reaches its maximum height.