Week 4

This week we prepared our design ideas and gathered information in order to present to the class what direction we plan on taking the braking and propulsion systems. We hope to gather input from our teammates in order to continue our work and build a successful system. We are continuing our work on motor sizing and further calculations to determine what specific motor we plan on using and what components will be needed in order to begin the CAD models and implement them with the bogie system in place now. We plan to begin that work at the end of this week.

We plan on having a fail-safe brake system that would use and actuator and a spring along with a simple handle with a rubber attached at the end. The actuator will prevent the spring from compressing and will only compress if the actuator loses power, in which the lever will be pulled down and rub and cause friction along the rails to eventually stop the bogie. (Last week post contained a sketch that describes this process).

It is also determined we will be using brake disc and rotor in order to stop the bogie. Mounting of the system is still being determined as we determine how we drive the bogie (direct drive or two motors driving each side of whole bogie.)

Motor and brake system (with fail-safe brake) integrated to one side of the bogie.

Week 3

This week we updated the gantt chart to accommodate the class presentations due in the upcoming weeks. Additionally, we decided to drive the bogie system by using gear and sprocket and driving the bogie wheels on to the rails. For braking, we would attach brake discs to the wheels. Furthermore, we have sketched design (figure 2) of a fail-safe braking system that would stop the bogie from moving if power were to go out. The lever attached will only make contact to the rail once power to the actuator is interrupted. Final design for the fail-safe brake system will be determined once propulsion and the main braking system designs have been completed.

Figure 1: Updated Gantt chart

Figure 2: Fail-safe braking system:

Week 2 + Propulsion

This week we were notified of absorbing the propulsion sub team. We will now be in charge of developing a brake system and a propulsion system for the bogie. The main focus for propulsion is creating a system that can supply a normal force from the bogie on to the roof of the guide way in order to move along sloped inclines and in dealing with weather conditions, etc. As for the breaking system, we are thinking of going along with brake discs for the bogie. However, we have not decided on the braking system yet as we need to discuss with our teammates on the design of the bogie itself and if it will be redesigned completely or work using similar design as the bogie from last year, as we need to account for space for the brake system. Furthermore, we were discussing on what specifications we will be using in our calculations for braking and how much power will be provided to propulsion and the brake system. We are assuming to work with a 300 lb. load (bogie and cabin) and will begin to look at the different brake systems we can implement within the design parameters we have set with our group while further discussing it with our teammates.