Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Spartan Superway Previous Small Scale Track Issues

Last year's small scale track team simplified the design of the track to make it easier to assemble and transport. Their ideas of attaching the vertical supports to concrete was very simple, which allowed for easier assembly. They set out to make the design modular so that more track could be added easily without a high cost. They were able to create two loops of track, but they wished they could have had four. Completing four loops would show that the design was indeed modular and could easily be expanded. By only completing two loops, the group essentially built a single section of track. From my understanding, the previous year has not yet practically found a way to simply expand the track.

The group also expressed difficulty in the physical manufacture of the track. I think they did a good job of contacting other individuals that had more practical knowledge to help them out. I have used a welder a few times so I have some understanding of what can and cannot be done with a welder. The previous team did express that was an issue for them. I believe that in our teams issue probably will not be the availability of knowledge or experience in manufacturing the track, but we may encounter very challenging issues if we do not have the proper tools at our disposal.

Another issue the team mentioned, but seemed to gloss over, was that if the dimensions of the track were not absolutely right, the bogie would get stuck. Something I would like to look into is if there are any working tolerances the track could have. I expect the tolerances would be governed by the design of the bogie. I'd imagine our team will have to communicate with the bogie teams to see what design constraints and tolerances we have to work with. With that in mind, I would speculate that temperature fluctuations could also create issues for the bogie when going around bends. This may or may not be an issue depending on the bogie and the materials we would be using, but is probably something to look into.