Portland State University PDXScholar University Honors Theses University Honors College 5-24-2019 The Design and Development of an Electromechanical Drogue Parachute Line Release Mechanism for Level 3 High-Power Amateur Rockets Marie House Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/honorstheses Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation House, Marie, "The Design and Development of an Electromechanical Drogue Parachute Line Release Mechanism for Level 3 High-Power Amateur Rockets" (2019). University Honors Theses. Paper 753. https://doi.org/10.15760/honors.770 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in University Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible:
[email protected]. The design and development of an electromechanical drogue parachute line release mechanism for level 3 high-power amateur rockets by Marie House An undergraduate honors thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in University Honors and Mechanical Engineering Thesis Adviser Robert Paxton Portland State University 2019 Abstract This research has developed a viable drogue parachute release system sufficient for recovering level 3 amateur rockets. The system is based on the simple mechanics of combining two lever arms and a 2 to 1 pulley interaction to create a 200:1 force reduction between the weight applied to the system and the force required to release it. A linear actuator retracts a release cord, triggering the three rings that hold the system together to unfurl from one another and separate the drogue parachute from the payload.