Week after Thanksgiving Break

These past few weeks our team has been mainly concerned with preparing for Presentation 3. This means that we were performing FEA analysis on different parts of the slave bogie. The FEA on the slave bogie was mainly concerning the bottom plate that connects to the cabin. FEA analysis was also performed on the drive bogie with horizontal and vertical in mind. Since the bogie team, this year is primarily focused on the drive bogie all changes have only been made to the drive bogie. The FEA analysis showed that the maximum deflection experienced on the drive bogie is still less than a millimeter. This can be attributed to the fact that the drive bogie is mostly made with 10 mm steel. With these materials, the factor of safety is extremely high. Even with the 10 mm steel the drive bogie is only 75 kg (maximum of 250 kg) when not loaded (no motor). This means that we are able to reduce the amount of material used to make the bogie, this will cut the material cost while only slightly reducing the factor of safety & deflecting marginally more.

This week was like many other prior weeks this week focused on communicating with other teams and improving our design. This week we have received the dimensions and CAD files from the guideway team. This allows us to flush out the height of the bogies. Adjusting the hight of the bogies affects the route selection system. Since we are changing the design of the drive bogie from a 4 wheel drive system to a 2 wheel drive system as well as the dimensions of the drive bogie itself, this affects the motor team. We have checked in with them and luckily the changes made to the bogie is not going to affect the motor team.

This week we have also have been using Ansys to look at the deformation of the drive bogie. I have been running into issues since the student version of Ansys is limited by the files it is able to accept as well as the mesh profiles it is able to generate. I have just found that the student version of Ansys is extremely limited, this is why that I will try and go to school and use the full version.

This week was an exceptionally interesting week. All of the teams met with Dr. Furman who had some information that he disclosed that would affect all of Spartan Superway. Though it affects every team, we as a whole will continue to move forward and try out best. In terms of our project, the integration team has continued to focus on improving the design and streamlining the process. We talked to the lead of the wayside power team about moving the super caps and batteries. The move hinges on the idea of having a drive bogie that is reliant on the slave bogie. Though this drive bogie will be reliant on the slave bogie, we will not be making any design changes as the drive bogie design will still be used as a base model. The independent drive bogies will also have the chance to operate as rescue bogies in the changes that the system breaks down somewhere on the track. The only difference in these bogies is that the rescue bogie will have a carriage for its own supercapacitors. Ultimately the system still becomes reliant on the batteries that the slave bogie will be carrying.

This week I worked more on the slave bogie. I was able to find the CAD for the slave bogie that last years team made. From this CAD model, I was able to alter it to fit the design specifications that we had imposed for this years slave bogie. This included removing the motors from the slave bogie as well as the steering. The route selection has also been removed but will be replaced later for a system that fits into the third rail. Further alterations include finding a way to bind the drive bogie and slave bogie together. There was also a presentation this week from a Futran representative that said that we much be careful of the information that we publicly disclose. He had made the assumption that everyone was under an NDA when in fact no one has been required to sign one. I foresee this to be a problem in the future.

This week was similar to the week of the first presentation. Most of the time was spent preparing out material and slides to ensure that we would present in a manner that Eric and Dr. Furman would find presentable. We have altered our CAD drawings from the last presentation and have rendered them for the second presentation. My team is focused on providing a platform for another team so that they may put their work onto a bogie that is operational and suitable for maker faire. We have been focused on designing and improving the drive bogie and converting the prior year's bogie into a load bearing slave bogie. We presented the changes to the drive bogie that we have made in the last month, but since we are all extremely busy, it is hard to make lots of changes as any change we make affects other teams. This makes making and decisions and changes extremely difficult.

This week my team continued to work on our design. We are changing the CAD of the slave bogie, stripping it of all the unnecessary parts. This would be everything but the frame, as the slave bogie won't have any motors or electronics besides the route selection system at the top. The slave bogie is being altered so that the new route selection system will be sturdy and able to be locked in place when the 3rd rail is used.

The Full-scale team was also very focused on securing funding for SPARTAN Superway. I have personally sent out emails to friends and family, and they have passed it along. A few of the people that I have reached out to have donated, getting our crowdfunding page to almost half of its goal. I am currently working on stripping the slave bogie of all excess parts.

This week's main focus was connecting with all other full-scale teams. The full-scale integration team was intent on getting the final dimensions and requirements for the full-scale bogie. This meant that it was extremely important to get some definitive dimensions from all other teams. We were able to get a motor selected by the motor team. While this is helpful we are still unaware of the amount of space that they will need to mount the motor as they don't have a gearbox selected. The wayside power team was able to confirm they will no longer be using 5 super caps, and instead will be using 2 large super caps instead. It was also possible to organize with the controls team the number of motors and actuators to create a functional guidance system. A passive wheel system was also designed to maximize the traction of the powered wheels.

As we move forward we continue to try and improve our previous design while being flexible so that other teams have some flexibility to change their designs. As we continue through the semester the goal will be to make this as modular as possible while keeping it easily manufacturable.

Multi - Bogie System

As the year continues, our designs become more and more refined. We have transitioned from a single bogie system to a multi-bogie system. This multi-bogie is beneficial because it makes the system more modular. Specifically, if the system breaks somewhere along the track, it allows a rescue bogie to be sent and retrieve the slave bogie. It also allows the system to add drive bogies depending on the load. Adding drive bogies to a system can turn a single cart system to a 'bus' system (multiple carts).

Creating a multi-bogie system also requires that new bogie designs be created. Since we have to design the drive bogie from scratch and reusing the slave bogie. The drive bogie needs to be able to use 4 drive wheel and 2 passive wheels. We must be able to quickly attach and detach the drive bogie from the slave bogie. It also must be able to have enough space for 5 supercapacitors. The passive wheel system must be able to be disengaged when power is cut.

This week all the subteams met to discuss their improved project proposals. After presenting and receiving criticism, we all split off. Our team met and continued to discuss the integration of all other teams systems. There was an idea of a multi-bogie system that was considered. We will make a final decision Saturday afternoon.

This week all of the full-scale team met up. Sat down with Mr. Espinosa and discussed how each one of our project proposals can be improved as well as what can be improved on the full scale bogie. We also had the chance to break off into our subteams and discuss with each other how we would improve the bogie and which direction to move. A large change that will be implimented is that we will be utilizing in hub motors and it will be 1 motor per wheel.

This week we continued to hone our focus within our subteams. We presented our goals for this project to the entire class. While none of us are entirely sure about what we want to do/ how we want to do it, we were still able to project our end goals. Our presentations include the key points/focus of our project and how we will continue to improve it from last years.

Week 2:

This week was definitely an interesting week. After having our first meeting for our senior project, we split up into our respective teams. I took this as an opportunity to try and take lead. Used this opportunity to organize our full-scale team to meet up and make myself a project manager, dividing our group into the appropriate sub-teams. The sub-teams were created in such a way that they will all have to work together and will have to make the leads of the sub-teams meet weekly  (I also ended up as one of the sub-team leads). At the end of the meeting, we all agreed to have all the sub-teams meet up at least once every other week and have the leads meet up once a week. Before leaving we all made sure to exchange contact information and create a slack channel so that all the teams may keep in touch. Now, all we have to do is meet up again next week and give a flash presentation on what our subteams will have to do.
Thats it for this week!
Brandon Tarter

Introduction to my Blog

About me:

My name is Brandon Tarter, I am a fourth-year mechanical engineering student at San Jose State University and expect to graduate fall of 2019. My interest is primarily in outdoor sports and technology. I have a passion for rock climbing, hiking/camping, fishing, and surfing.  I have a hope of discovering new interests and hobbies in the Spartan Superway project. I am specifically interested in the mechanical design and improving my coding/experience in microcontrollers and any areas I am weak in. I am also looking forward to working in teams on projects that everyone benefits from and takes seriously. If for whatever reason you ever need to contact me my contact information is provided below. 

email:

tarterphone@gmail.com

brandon.k.tarter@gmail.com

phone (cell): 

(510)-274-9890

Brandon Tarter