2017/02/22 - A New Consideration

During the last session, we learned that we would need to integrate Solar panels into our design as a large "full roof" canopy similar to the one shown below.

Before this, I had assumed that the Solar panels would have been installed directly above the guide ways, which will make a significant change in my assumptions (requiring the final design to also be able to hold perpendicular support beams in addition to the guide way and pod cars).

We were told to contact Eric Rosenfeld about the solar panel mountings, and he gave me his report from last semester. Also, I tried emailing my other group members for the meeting, but only one responded, so I will have to confirm with them tomorrow.

Lastly, I made a new design to try to get it closer to the original palm tree design:

This design features a horizontal x-beam in addition to the standard vertical one. It uses a series of sleeves to give it a smooth look and has a version of my 3 part clamp to fix the beams. The portions sticking on top is meant to have a series of holes that can be used to fix modular mountings (similar to mechano/erector toys) in the most effective way for the solar panel at any given location. I have difficulty integrating the triangular central hole though, as it will ether be too small to notice or interfere with the strength of the whole system

That being said, I suspect that the "cat's eye" design would work better if the solar canopy is in a curved shape (as in the photo, but the T would also work well if the canopy is meant to self adjust or if it is a flat array. In any case, I find it a little odd that we were asked originally to try to make the palm tree design as it will be hidden by the full roof canopy and will look very different from the example that the client saw.

I also want to note that I reattempted to contact Andries, during the February 15 meeting, but he has not yet responed.

2017/02/15 - Sketches and Designs

The first task I did for this week was writing an email to Andries asking if he could make a blueprint for the Stub column that Vanderbend could manufacture for us (using 1/8 inch sheet metal and some approximate external dimensions). He hasn't answered yet, so I may need to retry to contact him this week.

Like wise, we were tasked with designing the support structures. I made some rough sketches in the class section about a potential clamp design (involving one upper and two side parts - show at the lower left) and support configurations. Of the support designs, the most interesting one made would be the have to be the one in the sketch at the lower right. The way it works is that at the top, one beam or simple CFT (concrete filled tube) is held at the top of the column (preventing vertical motion), while there are two beams/CFTs that each an rest one end on opposite vertical sides of the column (preventing horizontal motion). The upper beam/CFT and the lower beams/CFTs would be able distribute the load among each other, while also using their weights to create a squeezing effect on the Column, allowing them to remain firmly attached without need of making holes (and consequently weak points) in the column, though they still require a would a system of custom clamps.

Later in the week I made some accurately scaled variations of it in SOLIDWORKS,
which can be seen below. If any of the designs are selected, I will work next week to design some clamping mechanisms would be compatible with it.

2017/02/08 - New Objectives

This week I focused mainly on gathering information about how our group should proceed for the spring semester.

I had written down many questions to ask Andries about his x-beam design before meeting meeting, and he did answer most of them and pointed out several features not explicitly shown in the blueprints.

Afterwards I discussed with my group-mates and with Mr. Swenson and Dr. Furman about what we should do for the deliverable. Although my group and I were originally expecting to do a medium T-shaped prototype, we later learned that a clients wants to build a round and curved Y-shaped version. In addition Andries said that we should actually do a smaller model to showcase the final look (similar to an architect's model) with working cars and a full scale column "stub" to show the technology behind it. This changes the plan dramatically, but likely will make things a lot simpler for our group.

At home, I began experimenting with a few of the possible configurations of how to make the Y shape configuration while still using the x-beams for the top portion. Unfortunately, the very linear nature of the beams makes this trickier than expected, as even with a masking cover there isn't much room for the upper gap, unless we use two branching bars which could be vulnerable to break at the joint.

Week 14 - The Last Week

For this last week, I created the design and CAD files for a wooden model to demonstrate the connections between the beams, which also included laser cut clamps and two different beam size (representing the main arch and the guide way supports). Unfortunately due to the very tight time constants I did not have the time to get the clamps design ready for the laser cutter, though the CAD should still be very helpful to demonstrate how they work. I also reused the parts from my my previous cardstock model to make three smaller models to show different sheet configurations, then I grouped up several files to show everything that I learned about how the beams worked over the semester.

Of course, the semester isn't completely over, and there are still a few things I must do. Firstly, I will sort through and upload all of my files to upload to the team google drive, which will then be uploaded to the general Superway Database. In addition, I will also have to put the finishing touches on my parts of the final report. Finally, during winter break I will also keep in touch with my group, and do whatever I can to help, as well as contact Banderbend to further improve my files and to get ready to turn them into real testable parts.

Week 12&13 - After the Break

During the Week of thanksgiving I did not manage to complete a lot of work for the superway as I had to catch up on another classes project and had a busy three day vacation. However, the weekend immediately afterwards was a very different story.

The first thing I did was create a streamlined SOLIDWORKS template to easily design bent sheets used for the column. With it one can quickly choose the unit system and sheet metal thickness, and tweak the external dimensions to immediately designs a sample sheet for new models. In addition, I also modified the template to generate a representation of the cement core that would be created for the given values and that could also accout for the interior tabs and the external gaps at the sheet intersections. Then, I used 4 of the sheet metal files and 1 of the concrete core files to make an assembly file that could be used for an ANSYS analysis. With these templates, I remade the parts and assembly for a 4 foot 1/8 inch sheet full scale beam, and two 4 foot half scale beams (with sheet thicknesses of 1/8 and 1/16 inches).

Lastly, I worked with the group to make the third presentation, which allowed me to show these new template files, as well as talk about new things I learned about the clamp system.

Week 11 - A Tough Cut

This week I focused entirely on the new laser cut prototype. As stated before, making the prototype out of cardstock proved to be ineffective as the material is far to flexible, making it almost impossible to assemble reliably by hand. To respond to this I bought a sample of 1/16 in thick cardboard as it is considerably more rigid and the thickness better represents the metal that will be used. The cardboard was too big for the laser cutter (30''x20'' in for the cardboard vs  24''x18'' for the cutter), so I had to cut it into two panels, the smaller measuring 20''x14.5''.

Throughout the weekend, I spent a lot remaking the design so that it would fit within the 20''x14.5'' in panels and so that the parts can come together in an "altering manner." At first, I made the design in inches, but I then realized that it would be more useful to keep it in millimeters, so I had to convert it that way. Looking over my reference documents, I realized that the thickness of the cardstock was very close to half the 3mm thickness of the metal that would be used (1/16'=1.59 mm) so I tweaked my design it to be half scale. I also experimented with the lengths of the parts so that I could cut a maximum number of parts from the cardstock panel and made sure so that it the ends of the finished product would go smoothly together. In addition, I tried making the design so that it would cut across all of the panel in one pass, but the large number of features slowed my computer dramatically and caused solidworks to crash multiple times, fortunately I realized that the main part of the pattern only took about 1/2 of the pannel, so I could leave it as is and just rotate the panel in the laser cutter.

Finally on Tuesday, I had to cut my new design and show my groupmates how the laser cutter works. Unfortunately, the designated computer was having technical difficulties such as extreme lag (taking a minimum of two seconds to respond to mouse clicks) and difficultly reading usb drives. Still, it eventually managed to work, so I opened DraftSight and uploaded the DXF file. Again, there were some more technical issues, such as the scale being wrong (the DXF file was set to inches) and the lasercutter not cutting all of the lines. Fortunately after some more trial and error with the settings and many passes with the laser cutter, I succesfully managed to cut out all of the parts, each with a set of duplicates. Going forward, I am going to help show the group how to assemble the part and discuss what else we should focus on for the rest of the semester.

Week 10 - A New Essay and Solidworks

This week I worked mainly on an essay for this class. I put in a lot of time and work into it, but unfortunately it took time away from the main project. In addition, unlike the first essay for this class it did not relate to the project (it had to do with how moble technology affects me and the world).

However, I also began designing a model in SOLIDWORKS to imitate a section of a track. The solid works assembly is in full scale (in feet), but the physical model that will be based on it will be 1/12 scale (so 1 inch=1 foot making conversions easy). The physical model will be made primarily from MDF as it will be easy to quickly manufacture in to the beams, but other materials may be used depending on the features we decide to include (IE 3d printed clamps or string cables).

Going into the next week, I will not only work on the SOLIDWORKS assembly, but I will also try making a new beam prototype out of laser cut folded paper parts and foam filling. However, I will need to find a thicker type of paper so that it will be sturdier and simpler to assemble, and I will use the super way building's sheet metal bender to make uniform bends.