Week 8 and 9: CAD design and specification

During this past two weeks, I gather valuable information from different teams and from our weekly team meetings.
First, we are working on the fourth rail system and the next figure shows where we intended to place the wayside system.

figure 1: wayside representation of the fourth rail system

Second, the I have concluded the preliminary CAD design to pick the current coming from the DC power supply as shown in the next figure. This shows the order of the of each element to pick up the current. The minimum dimensions for the base(guideway rail to the slave boogie is about 2.96 in. We are waiting for the teams to conclude their design so this mechanism can be mounted on the slave.

figure 2: current pick up system and its necessary components for current pick up

The next figure represents the shoe current pick up. This includes the 1045 carbon steel which holds the shoe collector and the carbon pad.

figure 3: shoe pad collector pick up system

Other areas I have considered are the insulation which holds the current. As of now, I have chosen Delrin material because is an excellent insulator, cheap and machinable. however, current systems in Europe use what is called an Aluminum/ Stainless Steel conductor (ALSS).

however, since this project is for the Makers Fair, it would not be advisable to get the combination of ALSS because they are more expensive and harder to machine it. the next figure shows an ALSS current collector.

figure 4: aluminum/ Stainless Steel collector

The next area to consider for the following weeks are the mechanism to keep the shoe current pick up to a steady 50N force. This condition is necessary to current to flow from the rail onto the motors and controllers.

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WEEK 12: 3D printing for Prototype

This week is spent 3D printing all the parts for the prototype. The CAD is coming along however 3D printing takes longer because we depend Makerspace availability. This is the 3D printed part that will be attached to the body of the slave. The plans is to secured, fixed (bolted) one side on the torsion spring (the outside) and apply a force on middle legs. this will counteract the force applied and create the 50N we expect. It was important to design a housing for the spring so we can attached to the spring and to legs. We are making iterations as we continue receive all printed parts. One important factor was how to hold on to the leg. the next figures show the the changes. These two figures are parts of the mechanism that will house the legs on the middle section. as we continue with these models we realized many iterations that have to made and prototyping provide the opportunity to see that. the two figure will replace...

Week 5 (February 6,2019):Latest current pick up mechanism and current rail design

For the past week, the team have modified the current rail and the current pick up mechanism. The figure above represent last year design. the figure above is the latest design The figure on the right is the mechanism that will make contact with the electric current rail. the legs (L-shaped) are design to fit the the width of the overall Guideway track.

WEEK 6: CAD drawing submitted for fabrication

The week after presentation, helped me to address very important details regarding the current insulator and rail. Also, it helped few modification on the current pick up mechanism to pivot about a joint. I have addressed those details as shown in the figure below. Using SolidWorks, I was able to calculate the tolerance angle as the current pick up mechanism is raised for a maximum on 1 in. a 10 degree angle will be used on the top pivot point. Additionally, I have sent the final drawing to Turpo Manufacturing company for fabrication. They will be machining some on the parts on this mechanism in exchange of advertising. finally I'll be working on the unistrust channels which will hold our current rail.

Daniel's Spartan Superway Project

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