Arrow Vanes for Archery Hunting
(Fall 2023- Spring 2024)
Embedded Files
Current Iron Will Outfitters products of precision broadhead and field point arrow tips, as well as grain inserts, hit collars, and custom machined arrow shafts, all used throughout testing
Project Background
Project Background
Employed by the premium archery company Iron Will Outfitters (https://ironwilloutfitters.com/products/iron-will-2-5-vane), we were tasked with designing a new arrow vane with optimized accuracy, stability, sound, velocity drop, and spin rates, intended for broadhead hunting for the consumer market. Using a combination of 3D modeling in SOLIDWORKS and 2000+ hours of fluid flow simulation data in SimScale, a wide selection of informed designs were narrowed down to the top performing arrow vanes via drag and restoring force calculations against a comparison to current industry products. To determine the performance empirically, 2500+ test shots were fired from a controlled archery machine to further narrow in on our top performing arrow vane design.
Contributions
Contributions
For this Mechanical Engineering capstone project, I took roles as the Logistics Manager and Audio Engineer on the testing sub team for the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 semesters.
Logistics Manager
Coordinate supplies, meetings, and testing session information needed to properly inform our client and relevant contacts of our findings
Manage a team of 6 to work together and produce an effective arrow vane, mitigating conflict and difficulties in equipment and personnel
Across 30 testing sessions (110+ hours) collected vital data, calibrated instruments, and transported all equipment
Iron Will Outfitters Team 20
Comparison decibel data plot between final prototype EE arrow vane and current industry arrow vanes, including the unfletched (vaneless) bare shaft, based on a difference value from ambient decibel levels.
Audio Engineer
Collect and process audio data on arrow vanes to determine the magnitude of decibels an arrow vane incurs using a microphone recorder, audio file processing, and MATLAB code
Compared decibel levels between prototype and industry arrow vanes to determine how each compare as based on a difference from the ambient noise level of each session
Data used to quantify how likely a target may be able to react to the sound of an arrow vane in an active hunting setting, with a strong correlation to consumers being more likely to purchase an arrow vane with reduced decibel levels.
Results
Results
Successfully designed an arrow vane with precise accuracy spreads, increased stability, reduced decibel levels, low velocity drop, and optimal spin rates for broadhead hunting with a 70lb draw compound bow
Proven flight characteristic improvements of our final design in comparison to current industry arrow vanes through simulations and empirical testing
Final design proceeded into the production and marketing stage as a new product being sold by Iron Will Outfitters, with a patent pending
Key Learnings: With arrow flight, it is not possible to construct an arrow vane that is the top contender for every flight characteristic consideration. Each consideration, accuracy, stability, drag, sound, and spin, correlates with each other such that, for example, an arrow with the lowest drag will also tend to have the lowest accuracy and stability. Rather, it is important to properly optimize the arrow vane to be a balanced performer in every category without disregarding others.
Engineering Expo Poster presented to judges and the public as an overview of our project's story. Final product EE data displayed, but not pictured for IP reasoning.
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