Individual Weekly Journal

Week 1

Week one of senior project consists of meeting our teammates who have previously been assigned to us based on project interests. The half-scale was my first choice out of the other full-scale and small-scale teams but I was wary of whether the full scale would be of greater interests. My initial reasons for wanting to be in the half-scale team included the fact that with the half-scale, I would be able to learn about the Superway project on a broader scale. Since automobiles and mechatronics are not my specialties, my hopes with this project are to see what I can learn from it. But after I heard of the possibilities that the half-scale holds, I decided to be apart of the team. 

Learning that the current bogie status will not make it up the 17-degree incline, my teammates: Oscar Balvaneda, Hector Gomez, Matthew Leal, and Karandeep Singh and I discussed the possibilities of including a new motor and possibly a different wayside power approach.

Week 2

With our ambitious approach of trying to tackle wayside power, the bogie, and controls, our team did not know where to start off. The team sat down with one of the advisors: Paul to hear his input.

His advice includes:

• Get model running at current conditions
• Look for main failures needing to be addressed
• Contact previous Half-scale bogie members
• Learn all about the current model and make additions to it. Small improvements. Do not change the entire design/ start from scratch

I had questions regarding why the project is sectioned into 3 parts: small-scale, half-scale, and full-scale and got the impression that the teams work without much collaboration. Even so, it is nice to hear the different issues that other teams have to tackle.


Week 3

After planning out our approach for the start of this project, we have settled on neglecting the wayside power component of the half-scale and focus solely on the bogie and controls.

Our goal for this school year was to make the bogie complete a full loop around the current track. This includes one of the bogie being able to climb up the 17-degree incline and switch tracks at the intersection.

To begin, the team disconnected all the wires connecting one of the bogies to the Arduino board and directly plugged the mechanism to the wall outlet to see if the bogie will operate. Since our arrival, the half-scale station was set up with one bogie on the table and one one the guideway. By connecting the bogie to a power supply, we saw that the bogie works and is able to run up the slope. I believe when it is said that the bogie doesn't work, it may only not work under extra weight. We decided to do individual research on how to improve this issue. 

I chose to research wheel material properties that would better prevent the wheels from slipping under a large load. Inspired by elevator wheels seen through a glass elevator, I first looked up the material that average elevator wheels are made of. This lead to investigating popular industrial wheels and finding that polyurethane material may fit our needs. Wheels on the link below fit the dimensions we were looking for and has a load capacity of 1200lb.

https://www.zoro.com/rwm-rigid-w6x2-urethane-on-iron-wheel-45-uir-0620-r/i/G0711203/#specifications

In lab we :

Got a general idea of how the circuit was previously constructed.

Noticed that the power supply was converting AC to DC to match the bogie motor requirements.

Looked up schematic for the stepper motor to further understand the current wiring situation.

Week 4

One of our team members is affiliated with the company Solarius and they have agreed to fund the half-scale team for this school year. Today a bill of materials was constructed for the company sponsor including new gears, chains, and possibly a motor. Up until this point we have worked together on figuring out the basics of how the current design of the bogie works. But today, we discussed separation of the team into two groups: controls and design. In addition, the torque was calculated on each bogie wheel to later determine motor power and gear ratios. Redesign of bogie was discussed for a smaller and lighter mechanism: Reorientation of motor or purchase of smaller motors. I helped measure the dimensions of the current gears and added items to the BOM.

Week 5

The first official presentations were made from all groups for practice on the final presentation and as an update on the group progress. Since the bogie was noted to run properly but not make it completely up the ramp, we were advised to run the mechanism and just push the bogie to where we need it. This was not done previously since the team was unaware that the bogie can be pushed. during the presentation, I discussed our wheel choices and reasons as well as the BOM and Gantt chart.

Week 6

I have designated myself to take notes every week during lab. Today, the current bogie was taken apart to view the conditions of the parts inside. The workspace for our project was also made more organized and the parts of the bogie were laid out on the table. With the sponsor approval, our group also ordered a new soldering kit, measuring tape, multimeter, and wire crimpers.

Week 7

Since there were issues with the bogie going up the rails before, we decided to calculate the torque needed for the motor to run in order for a 600lb weight to be carried up the 17deg slope. It was found that the motor was sufficient and will not need replacement. However, the wheels need a better friction factor in order to prevent slipping on the ramp.

The durometers of the different polyurethane materials were researched to check the coefficient of static friction on different materials.

https://www.slideshare.net/SunrayInc/understanding-polyurethane-coefficient-of-friction

Week 8

The Arduino code was our main focus for this week. We made the block diagram more detailed and started on the circuit board diagram. I did some research on how to program a stepper motor.


Week 9

The second official presentation was made today. Our presentation was more smooth from practice and more organized. I worked mainly on finding relevant examples on the literature review of projects similar to the Superway. I also took the time to figure out how the Superway would be more efficient than other transportation services and found that an elevated guideway design will cost a lot less than conventional train and bus tracks. Skytran is a very impressive example and I chose to focus on them because they provide a very enticing video on how elevated networks can change our way of living in urban areas.

https://www.skytran.com/

Week 10

The block diagram was finalized and the code for the motor was worked on.


Week 11

Finite element analysis was the focus on this week along with testing the code for the bogie. FEA was done using Solidworks and we decided to change some of the shaft diameters in order to reduce stress on the corners. The plan is to buy a new shaft and machine the shaft to fit our needs. The code was also tested to move back and forth with a switch. 

Week 12

The original motor board burns out and another one was ordered. The new board is attached to a heat sink and will not rely on a fan to cool the system. However, over the week, this second board also stops working and was returned. The original board type was repurchased. We looked through the wires to see if there is a short in the circuit but have not found the source for this malfunction. If the issue keeps persisting, we will have to look deeper into the problem. 

Week 13

This week, the third presentations were made. I researched the possible wireless Bluetooth modules that we can use on the bogie as well as how they would be implemented. The circuit shown below is a great example of how we can connect the XBee communicators to the motors.

http://larsonm.com/index.php/2016/an-arduino-based-remote-control-robot-kit/

Example code for Arduino can be found on the bottom of this site:

https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Use-XBee-Modules-As-Transmitter-Receiver-Ar/