Eric Crespo-Lezama

This project was part of MIT's MakeMIT Hardware Hackathon. We produced an automated hot air balloon valve concept on the 1st round, and classified for the final round (10/70 teams). For the final round, we had 10 hours to put together our hack. We were going to create a "floating lantern" supported by Helium Balloons and stabilized by a "flame thrower". The idea is to have your backyard covered with these chandeliers for decoration purposes... but obviously smaller and prettier.

Our design was based off of Chinese Lanterns. Imagine having a bunch of these in your backyard, but instead of them flying away, they stabilize at a certain height.

Our stabilizing Arduino-controlled module was composed of: - Axe Body Spray can - Bic Lighter - Ultrasonic Rangefinder - Servo + wood lever (stick) - 3D Printed Holders

And our Chandelier (Balloon) was composed of: - Balsa Strips - Clear Trash Bags - Lots of Helium Balloons We had planned to use Nylon instead of trash bags, but were unable to get it the day of the hackathon.

We used an ultrasonic rangefinder to determine the height of the module. Once it dropped bellow the threshold, it would activate the flamethrower. Once it went over the threshold height, it would stall the flamethrower.

The stabilizer is basically a "flame thrower" that activates once the module drops beyond a set height threshold. The lighter acts as a pilot light, and the axe body spray as the gas flow. To actuate it, we had a servo pull a lever arm (wood stick) such that it caused the axe nozzle to press in, producing a pretty sweet flame burst.

Action shot of the flame burst. In the end, the trash bag melted and holes began to appear. For our next try, we will make sure we use nylon to support higher temperatures. Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnwO9lY1W3Q

And as always... safety first! :)