Week 6: Prototyping plans

This week we were informed about the 1/12th scale team's objectives and plans through their presentations. After, we met to discuss further plans. In order to assure our design's functionality of a passive suspension, we have to decided to begin rapid prototyping our design this Saturday, September 30th.

Week 5: Presentation 1

For this week our team gave our first presentation to our peers about our project and proposal. We also met and discussed plans for rapid prototyping our design. Below is a link to our presentation.

Week 4: Drafting Designs

Our group has come up with three different design iterations for the half-scale suspension system. Colin and I included active suspension systems with hopes for dampening to be involved somewhere in the system. Salvador has brought forth a new and innovative design that levels out the cabin passively instead of actively. We believe that if Salvador's design works, it will be much less complex and easier to achieve in terms of our end goals. We have spoken with Dr. Furman and Eric and they have granted us permission to use the 2016 Active Suspension Team's dampening system, which we hope to incorporate in Salvador's design. Our team will begin to rapid prototyping Salvador's design to assure that there are no flaws. Below is a sketch of Salvador and I's design iterations.

Figure 1: My active suspension design iteration

Figure 2: Salvador's passive suspension design iteration

Week 3: Making Connections

This week, we prepared a Lightning Talk to present to the Spartan Superway team our project description, specifications, and end goals. Salvador, Colin, and I aim to design and build a half-scale suspension that keeps the cabin leveled to the ground while ascending or descending on 17 degree slopes. By the end of this project, we hope to be able to improve passenger comfort and inspire students to join the Spartan Superway team next year.

Figure 1: Half-Scale Bogey

After the presentations we were granted the chance to meet the team who worked on the half-scale bogie and suspension this past summer. They informed us about their progression in the summer, showed us the anatomy of the bogeys, and gave us the program to run the bogeys. The summer team also gave us on advice on using bell cranks and possible solutions for an active and passive suspension. As of now, we have two pinholes on the bogey for reference that the suspension will mount on. Our team has agreed to come up with different design iterations by the end of this week to get them approved by Dr. Furman and Eric Hagstrom.