Week of 11/16

This week, my group and I met up and talked about the track. I found a video online that shows how to weld aluminum bars together relatively easily. The process looks like soldering but it requires a blow torch in order to heat the metal up. I think we do have a blow torch in the warehouse so if do use this method we can go right ahead and try it out. The only thing we will need is the aluminum "solder." This material is also cheap. You can get a pack of eight rods for only $13 which is a lot cheaper than paying some one to weld stuff for us.

Week of 11/1/15 Update

This week we met with our group and discussed ways to assemble the track. I had the idea of welding some of the sections together to avoid using so many screws the previous track had, which was a problem when transporting and operating the cart on the track. Sometimes the screws would get loose and snag the cart. Welding would get rid of these problems. The only problem is that I dont know how to weld so I will have to learn over winter break or find someone I know who does.

Presentation 2 Slides Link

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1p11Ptvp7UQiSgUJTpsIumvWTXO01YmQlgIvf_rGioY0/edit#slide=id.g713bbfb36_0_0

Weekly Update October 4

Since the last time I posted, I have been working with my team on our group presentation. My part was to talk about the current track and what issues it has. Working with the track first hand at the Electric Car Rally made this easy for me since I experienced all the problems the track has myself. This will make it easier for me to convey my points to the Superway Team. We have been meeting up with our group after class on Mondays and Wednesdays to work on the presentation. Working with people in person is better than doing a presentation online I think. 

I also looked at the files that Ernest was working on during the summer and found all the ideas/concepts he wanted to do in order to improve/expand the track. Some of his ideas are very good and some still require some thinking and need more brainstorming on how we can implement them. One idea is about implementing a U-turn on the track which is a very  difficult task since we are going to have multiple carts on the track and we don't want any collisions.

Work Summary 9/14-9/20

Last week, I helped get the track get ready for the 43rd Annual Silicon Valley Electric Vehicle Show along with Kenny Strickland, Kenneth Aganon, Marc Acoba, David Chen, Thomas Nguyen, and Michael Hurst. I went to the meeting that was held on Friday where we talked about the future of the project, with a gentleman named Bill James, and also disassembled the track for the first time. I thought that the track was going to be hard to disassemble but we had enough people to get it apart in a matter of minutes. We then packed the track into Kenny Strickland's car and fit all the pods and tools into my car. Then I went to the event at De Anza College the next morning where we all assembled the track and ran the pods.

Doing this event made me open my eyes to improvements that need to be made to the track/pod. The track needs to be made out less pieces and needs a better supporting system because the rods are hard to make the track level. The pod needs the most improvement. The main switching mechanism needs to be more sturdy. The piano wire that connects the servo to the guideways is not ideal and makes the pod fall off the track sometimes. Another thing is that some of the screws within the pod get loose but there is no way to get a tool in there to tighten them without disassembling the entire pod. We also need to cover all the circuit boards in a protective case as well. The biggest thing we found out is the lack of a fail safe is really bad. The pod fell off the track multiple times during the event which is not good. The event was really cool. We met a lot of people that were interested in what we are doing and even won an award for best Student Project.

Track Dissection (Blog #2)

As part of the small scale team, not only do I have to tackle the programming/controls part of the project but also the track part too. The sketch below represents a birds eye view of the existing track. The red dashed lines represent where we should implement a cutoff. If we put a cutoff in the red-dashed regions, we can have the main track be in five parts. The red circles also represent attach points so the wayside pickups can also be disassembled easier too. Having the track in these pieces will enable us to disassemble/assemble the track faster while still being easy to transport. Another benefit will be for smoother ride of the pods going around the track because there will be less attach points to ride over.

Suggested Improvements

The one thing I would like to improve on the track is the track support itself. In class on 9/2, one of the captains of the small scale showed us a demonstration of how the whole system works. While the pod was going around the track, I noticed that the supports were very wobbly. Luckily there is two different ways to fix this problem. Through my knowledge of material science, I show below how to find two solutions to fix the deflection problem of the rod.

• Assumptions - 60 inch long, 3/16 inch diameter 6061 Aluminum Rod

Strain on pipe

Moment was derived from last years data of pod weighing 2 pounds and a rod length of 60 inches.

• Solution 1 -Increase the diameter of the pipe
• If we increase the diameter of the pipe, the moment of inertia will go up will which will lead to a smaller stress and strain. The smaller strain will lead to less bending.
• Solution 2 - Use a stronger material
• If we increase the Young's Modulus of the pipe, the strain will get smaller which will decrease the amount of deflection.

Summary- Week of 9/2-9/9

In last weeks meeting, I chose to join the small scale group. We decided to split the group into tiny subgroups that tackled a specific problem/improvement. Some subgroups included the track design, controls, bird-eye view camera mount, and solar panel. I put my name in the track design and the controls team. That is what we did last week in class. After class, I looked into different ways to improve the bends of the track and different methods to connect sections of the track together. I also thought of different ways to suspend the track.

My Bio

My name is Ali Bootwala and I am a Senior in Mechanical Engineering with a capstone in Mechatronics. I was born and raised in the Bay Area and live in South San Jose.With my capstone in Mechatronics, I hope to ensure passenger safety with the collision aversion hardware/software and see how we can make the Superway be a convenient mode of transportation for people to use everyday. I also would like to improve the small scale track to make the passenger car move smoothly around corners. In my free time, I like to watch basketball, football, and listen to music.